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POLYGAMY 

OR,  THE 

MYSTERIES  AND  CRIMES  OF 
MORMONISM 

BEING  A 

Full  and  Authentic  History   of  this  Strange 
Sect  From  its  Origin  to  the  Present  Time 

WITH  A 

THRILLING  ACCOUNT  OF  THE  INNER   LIFE  AND  TEACH- 

INGS   OF    THE     MORMONS    AND    AN    EXPOSE    OF 

THE  SECRET   RITES  AND  CEREMONIES  OF 

THE  DELUDED   FOLLOWERS  OF 

BRIGHAM   YOUNG 


It 
Formerly  Editor  of  the  Salt  Lake  Reporter,  and 

Clerk  of  the  Supreme  Court  for  Utah 


Assisted  by  Hon.  O.  J.  HOLLISTER, 

United  States  Revenue  Collector  for  Utah 
WITH  AN  INTRODUCTION  BY 

.    MURAT  HALSTEAD,  the  renowned  author 


ILLUSTRATED    WITH   A  GREAT    NUMBER  OF   STRIKING 
SCENES  OF  LIFE  AMONG  THE  MORMONS 


WORLD   BIBLE   HOUSE 

PHILADELPHIA,  PA. 


ENTERED    ACCORDING    TO    ACT    OF    CONGRESS,    IN    THE    YEAR    1882.    BY 

J.  R.  JONES 

•W    THE    OFFICE     OF    THE.    LIBRARIAN    OF    CONGRESS,    AT     WASHINGTON      D.    C    ,    U      8.    A. 
ENTERED    ACCORDING  TO  ACT  OF    CONGRESS    IN    THE    YEAR    1904,    BY 

D.  Z.   HOWELL 

IN  THE  OFFICE  OF  THE  LIBRARIAN  OF  CONGRESS,  AT  WASHINGTON,   0.  C.  U.  8.  A. 

ENTERED    ACCORDING    TO   ACT    OF    CONGRESS,    IN    THE    YEAR    1904      BY 

J.    R.    JONES 
IN    THE    OFFICE     OF    THE    LIBRARIAN    OF    CONGRESS,    AT    WASHINGTON,    D.    C.       U.    S.    A 


Bancroft  Ubnu> 


TO 


.WOMEN  OF  AMERICA, 


Whose  Sympathies  are  ever  active  in  behalf  of  their 
Suffering  and  Oppressed  Sisters, 


THIS 

IS    RESPECTFULLY 

DEDICATED 

In  the  hope  that  it  will  interest  them  in  the  condi 

tion  of  the  Women  who  are  living  in 

Moral  Bondage  in  U^h. 


INTRODUCTION 

BY 

MURAT  HALSTEAD. 


THE  Mormon  field  has  had  attractions  for  genera- 
tions to  curious  travelers,  writers  studying  social 
problems,  and  politicians  investigating  popular  phe- 
nomena. The  State  of  Utah  has  other  interests,  but 
the  Mormon  questions  surpass  all  that  may  be 
described  as  sensational. 

Among  the  newspaper  historians,  Mr.  J.  H.  Beadle, 
author  of  "  Polygamy,  or  The  Mysteries  and  Crimes 
of  Mormonism,"  who  was  well  known  to  me  person- 
ally, and  for  several  years  a  correspondent  of  the 
Cincinnati  Commercial,  while  that  paper  was  con- 
ducted under  my  direction,  was  a  fearless  man, 
largely  and  well-informed,  a  close  observer,  a  searcher 
for  and  student  of  facts,  with  a  trained  reporter's 
talent  and  taste  for  finding  the  truth. 

He  rarely  had  an  equal  in  the  art  of  investigation, 
and  always  fortified  himself  when  he  accepted  the 
responsibility  of  presenting  matters  that  caused  con- 
troversy, as  his  Mormon  writings  did.  He  did  more 
to  bring  before  the  country  that  which  was  odious 
among  the  Mormons  than  any  other  writer,  and  he 
was  a  firm  believer  in  the  conditions  of  the  social 
shame  he  described. 

It  is  due  to  him  to  say  that  the  testimony  taken  by 
the  Senatorial  Investigating  Committee,  who  this  year 
summoned  witnesses  and  rigorously  examined  them, 
did  not  disturb  the  investigations  by  Beadle,  that  had 
appeared  in  his  famous  book  ;  but  in  a  great  degree 

ill 


iv  INTRODUCTION. 

supported  him,  giving  the  Mormon  story  an  increase 
of  disrepute  and  warning  of  danger. 

Beadle's  writings  were  the  most  downright  and 
convincing  of  the  relentless  antagonists  of  Mormoii- 
isrn,  and  the  developments  in  the  case  of  Senator 
Smoot  will  renew  the  emphasis  of  his  severities  and 
revive  interest  in  his  writings. 

Miss  Kate  Field  also  visited  Utah,  and  had  the 
advantage  of  being  a  brave  woman  with  true  womanly 
sympathies ;  but  her  warfare,  though  brilliant  and 
forcible,  was  not  fought  to  a  finish,  for  she  was  called 
away  to  be  historian  of  the  Hawaiian  Islands  during 
the  agitation  that  preceded  the  annexation  of  the 
Archipelago.  Exposure  in  an  exploring  expedition 
caused  her  death  in  Honolulu.  Her  analysis,  from 
personal  observation,  as  that  of  Beadle,  of  the  testi- 
mony found  in  the  Senate  documents,  would  have 
been  an  increase  of  electric  light  on  a  dark  subject. 

The  Book  of  Mormon  was  found,  according  to  believ- 
ers, in  the  "  sacred  soil "  of  Central  New  York,  not 
very  remote  from  the  burial  place  of  the  Cardiff 
Giant.  The  origin  of  the  book  in  which  the  divine 
spirit  was  declared  to  have  been  manifest,  has  not 
been  quite  as  satisfactorily  accounted  for  as  the  sUnry 
giant,  which  was  the  practical  joke  of  a  stone  cutter, 
who  hid  himself  with  a  big  stone,  created  the  mon- 
ster, buried  it  himself  "  darkly  at  dead  of  night,"  and 
discovered  it,  when,  with  the  aid  of  acids,  it  became 
ancient. 

It  was  not  a  lot  of  golden  plates  upon  which  the 
word  of  the  Lord  was  written.  The  alleged  litera- 
ture on  yellow  plates  was  a  case  of  the  old-fashioned 


INTRODUCTION.  v 

"  Gold  Brick,"  only  the  brick  was  a  book ;  and  the 
only  chance  for  a  true  story  is  that  the  production  was 
the  work  of  an  anonymous  writer,  who  was  to  himself 
a  self-evident  genius  and  a  failure  as  a  novelist,  and, 
in  a  state  of  starvation,  had  the  sagacity  to  prefer  a 
small  fee  and  security  to  the  fame  of  a  crank,  and 
passed  the  manuscript  as  a  fresh  volume  of  scripture, 
with  which  mankind  was  freshly  endowed.  The 
Imposter,  whatever  form  it  took,  found  a  patron  who 
preached  the  preposterous,  and  after  a  while  it  pre- 
vailed mightily. 

The  "  Holy  Book  ''  was,  it  seems,  when  prepared 
for  the  conquest  of  the  world,  the  offspring  of  squalor. 
It  was  an  evolution  of  the  enthusiastic  idiocy,  that 
causes  the  fennentation  of  the  special  brand  of  ignor- 
ance that  is  fruitful,  bearing  a  crop  of  superstition, 
the  realization  of  imposition  upon  meagerness  of 
mind  and  poverty  in  worldly  goods. 

Great  loads  of  folly  are  carried  by  Pretenders, 
who  have  the  cunning  to  understand  that  it  is  the 
impossible  that  is  easy,  if  there  is  enough  agony 
used  in  the  effrontery  of  criminal  cheating.  The 
first  lesson,  when  choice  of  a  career  is  made,  is  the 
profession  of  imposture ;  and  a  talent  for  the  super- 
natural is  self-confidence  and  self-deception,  reaching 
the  blissful  elevation  "  where  ignorance  is  bliss,  it  is 
folly  to  be  wise." 

Wisam  did  not  cry  loud  and  long  in  the  streets  or 
the  wheat  fields  of  the  Mohawk  Valley  for  the  Book 
of  Mormon,  gold  plated  with  invisible  gold.  The 
true  story,  after  the  wretched,  fraudulent  tale  met 
skepticism,  is  a  long  and  curious  one,  showing 


d  INTRODUCTION. 

miraculous  power  of  impudence — an  example  of  the 
wonders  wrought  with  the  magic  wand  that  awakens 
faith  in  the  foolish  and  credulous 

It  was  resolved  to  found  a  Church  of  an  old  sort, 
and  to  "  build  upon  the  Gold  Brick  "  that  was  found 
and  lost,  according  to  speculation.  The  founder 
who  used  the  Brick  as  a  corner-stone,  did  not  err  in 
asking  his  converts  small  sacrifices,  but  giving  them 
doses  of  doctrine  for  a  colossal  capacity  to  accept  the 
incredible  and  cling  to  it  strenuously. 

That  is  the  receipt,  restrained  by  no  patent,  for 
the  conversion  of  the  savage  and  the  imbecile,  to 
cling  to  any  fraud  who  says  he  has  a  commission  to 
speak  for  God.  Throw  in  a  muddle  of  mystery  and 
promise  of  oriental  indulgences,  self  sufficient  special 
privileges  of  sensuality,  and  follow  the  fanatical 
teachings  of  Mohammed,  with  the  promise  of  an 
alluring  paradise  to  those  who  die  for  a  fad ;  and 
reap  the  harvests  that  wait  upon  ambitious  and 
unscrupulous  adventure. 

The  "  Book  of  Mormon  "  must  have  been  unknown 
by  the  producer  or  the  promoter,  who  wrote  the  first 
novel  and  prefaced  it  with  the  a  find "  of  golden 
plates,  that  were  to  redeem  the  plain  prose  of  exist- 
ence with  the  fantastic.  It  was  a  clouded  romance 
— the  Tittlebat  Titmouse  member  of  Parliament, 
who  introduced  the  great  and  gifted  bill,  "  To  Do 
Everything  for  Everybody,"  and  the  charm  was 
potent  that  exposed  the  hardships  even  of  abounding 
America,  to  contrast  with  the  voluptuous  blandish- 
ments of  Asiatic  dreamers. 

It  was  a  captivating  creed  to  propose   that  there 


.  INTRODUCTION.  vii 

was  a  religion,  lovely  and  Holy,  that  called  not  for 
self  denial,  but  turned  to  virtue  the  sins  of  youth. 
The  peccadillos,  for  which  deeds  of  repentance  in  the 
old  way  are  required,  were  to  be  superceded  by 
commands  of  the  Book  of  the  Gold  Brick,  with  spirit- 
ualism and  harems  in  Oriental  palaces  and  temples. 
There  were  converts,  devotees,  soldiers,  a  restoration 
of  the  days  of  religious  crusaders  ;  and  presently  the 
world  was  to  be  conquered  in  flowery  beds  of  ease. 

It  was  necessary  to  move  on  when  the  call  came, 
even  though  it  was  winter  time  and  there  were 
women  and  children.  The  place  selected  for  such  a 
Church,  it  turned  out  was  not  the  spot  to  flourish. 
The  first  of  the  hegira  was  to  Illinois,  and  the  hard 
headed  common  sense  of  the  people  of  that  part  of 
the  country  presently  developed  into  intolerance  and 
forced  further  movements,  until  the  New  Church, 
and  the  Society  of  the  people  that  were  the  rulers, 
passed  through  varied  excitements  that  aroused 
mobs,  and  there  were  the  requisite  martyrdoms. 
Lynch  law  was  tried,  and  irregular  punishments 
inflicted. 

The  slaughter  of  the  Prophet  followed,  and  the 
Mormons,  claiming  all  the  honors  of  persecution, 
began  a  long  pilgrimage,  a  far  greater  journey  than 
that  of  Israel.  There  was  the  blood  of  the  Prophet 
and  the  going  forth  from  Egypt,  and  the  victims  were 
taught  that  they  were  victors.  It  was  an  imitation 
and  an  advertisement.  Far  away  at  last  Was  found 
the  promised  land,  that  was  as  an  Eden  restoration, 
and  where  there  was  a  Dead  Sea,  into  which  the  Jor- 
dan rolls.  The  movement  was  one  of  privation  and 


viii  INTRODUCTION. 

suffering  extraordinary,  and  many  of  the  pilgrims 
perished. 

Then  a  truly  wonderful  work  was  performed.  The 
desert  blossomed.  It  was  a  strange  story  to  tell,  and 
the  fancy  that  passed  for  history  and  aired  a  theory 
that  these  were  the  favored  people  of  the  Lord.  The 
imagination  of  the  world  was  kindled.  The  claim 
was  that  here  was  a  chosen  people,  and  that  the  Pres- 
ident of  the  United  States  was  a  pursuing  Pharaoh. 
The  discovery  of  the  goodly  land  of  Utah  was  a  sur- 
prise, even  to  the  people  of  the  nation. 

Mormonism  increased  and  multiplied.  Missiona- 
ries were  sent  forth  by  them,  and  swarms  of  illiterate 
persons  and  patient,  laborious  peasants  of  Europe 
sought  the  new  land  with  a  flavor  of  spiritualism, 
that  takes  root  in  stolid  races  transplanted  to  volcanic 
soil.  The  organization  of  those  who  braved  the  dread- 
ful journey  was  admirably  ordered,  and  there  was 
magic  in  the  walls  of  the  city  that  arose  as  at  a  touch, 
and  the  fertile  lands  that  blossomed. 

The  peculiar  distinguishing  institution  of  the 
Mormons  was  that  of  polygamy.  The  Church  was 
responsible  for  it ;  the  Church  was  founded  on  polyg- 
amy ;  the  Church  proclaimed  the  plural  wives  doc- 
rine  and  the  apostles  performed  accordingly.  Disor- 
der and  troubles  increased  as  the  years  passed,  until 
General  Albert  Sydney  Johnson  led  a  force  of  United 
States  regulars  to  the  distant  colony,  whose  attrac- 
tions were  so  strangely  mingled  with  its  distraction. 
This  was  the  appearance  of  the  sword  and  the  iron 
hand.  The  great  civil  war  followed  and  Mormonism 
was  almost  forgotten.  It  was  thought  they  would 


INTRODUCTION.  ix 

shed  their  hard  shell  peculiarities  if  they  were  not 
given  the  qualification  of  excessive  observation. 

There  had  been  two  generations  of  Mormondom, 
and  after  some  years  of  comparative  order,  though 
there  was  occasional  warfare  and  bloodshed,  between 
others  than  Mormons  and  Indians,  with  the  polyga- 
mists  and  savages.  In  1860,  one  of  the  great  political 
parties  engaged  in  the  politics  of  the  Presidential  year 
denounced  the  Mormon  Church  and  city  as  a  relic  of 
barbarism  ;  and  slavery  passed  away  finally,  with  the 
approval  of  all  classes  and  parties  in  our  country. 

The  case  of  the  Utah  Senator-elect,  Mr.  Reed 
Smoot,  is  in  the  highest  degree  a  matter  of  con- 
sequence. The  crafty  Mormon  priesthood  have 
understood  and  provided  the  possible  line  of  his 
defense.  The  Senator-elect  is  liable  to  get  a  com- 
mand from  God  any  day  after  he  is,  if  he  is  to  be,  a 
Senator  in  his  seat.  Indeed,  according  to  the  Mor- 
mon creed,  he  is  one  of  the  self-appointed  masters  of 
that  great  community. 

He  is-  expected  to  walk  and  talk  with  God  daily, 
and  he  can  have  a  revelation  direct  at  any  time,  that 
in  the  Mormon  lingo  for  marriage  with  a  plural  wife, 
he  can  "  take  a  virgin  "  to  be  his  second  wife,  or  as 
happy  as  Mr.  Smith  is  after  taking  five  wives ;  and 
there  is  no  limit. 

Mr.  Sinoot  may  ascertain  any  day  that  God  com- 
mands him,  or  he  may  in  his  own  holiness  call  unto 
God  and  command  him  to  express  His  satisfaction 
that  the  good  man  may  take  many  virgins  for  wives, 
and  the  Holy  Mormon  Book  settles  it  that  he  can 
not  commit  adultery,  though  he  may  marry  all  the 


x  INTRODUCTION. 

women  of  half  a  dozen  families,  including  mothers 
and  daughters  and  mothers-in-law. 

Why  was  Mr.  Smoot  selected  to  act  as  an 
entering  wedge,  as  it  were,  for  the  Priesthood  of 
Mormondom  into  High  Politics  ?  There  are  certain 
superficial  reasons  that  we  may  state  with  confidence. 
Mr.  Smoot  is  a  Republican,  and  has,  according  to 
conventionalities,  the  accomplishments  and  education, 
dress,  manners  and  courtesies,  of  a  gentleman.  That 
is  not  all,  however.  He  is,  in  his  family  relations  a 
monogamist.  He  was  picked  out  that  he  might  not 
be  embarrassed  with  a  harem,  to  get  into  the  Senate ; 
but  if  he  desires,  he  could,  with  the  key  for  entrance 
into  Washington  society  that  his  social  position  as 
Senator  means— he  might  even  negotiate  hopefully 
for  a  dozen  ladies  of  Washington  to  become  his 
wives ;  and  on  reception  day  at  the  White  House,  if 
he  got  cards  of  invitation,  he  could  have  the  roll 
called  with  a  resonant  voice,  as  he  passed  the  Presi- 
dent ;  or,  to  avoid  mistakes,  he  could  call  the  roll 
himself;  or  state  the  number  of  the  wife  taken,  as 
she  passed,  so  that  her  matrimonial  standing  place, 
unless  the  last  shall  become  the  first,  would  be  known. 

There  is  no  widow  in  Washington  who  in  case  the 
command  of  God,  liable  to  be  given  at  any  moment, 
might  not  be  married  to  the  monogamist,  if  she 
would  consent,  with  all  her  daughters  and  also  her 
aged  mother,  if  Providence  benignly  lengthened  out 
her  days,  that  she  might  come  down  to  us  from  a 
former  generation  to  these  happy  times. 

Senator  Smoot  might,  as  there  could  be  no  doubt 
of  his  calling,  if  he  should  get  a  revelation  from  God 


INTRODUCTION.  xi 

— and  the  Senator's  word  of  honor  might  be  obtained 
that  he  had  received  not  the  word  of  God  exactly,  but 
God's  command,  to  comfort  the  widows  and  the 
fatherless,  according  to  the  means  of  the  Senator 
and  his  power  of  persuasion. 

In  the  course  of  a  little  time,  if  the  Senator  elect 
from  Utah '  becomes  the  Senator  in  fact,  and  a  word 
of  that  sort  from  the  god  of  the  Mormon  scriptures  is 
a  command,  of  course — and  no  one  would  be  so 
depraved  as  to  question  or  to  dispute  the  word  of  a 
gentleman  under  such  circumstances — the  Senator 
could  communicate  with  his  beloved  sovereign  State, 
that  he  had  married  many  estimable  ladies,  and 
saved  them  from  the  possibility  of  ever  going  wrong, 
and  needed  not  only  a  State  flag,  but  an  appropria- 
tion, for  domestic  purposes,  for  the  ladies  of  the 
District  of  Columbia  who  had  consented  to  be  his 
wives  ;  and  Solomon  in  all  his  glory  had  not  such  a 
household  as  he  when  the  Queen  of  Sheba  called, 
and  lo,  the  half  had  not  been  told  her  until  she  had 
made  the  personal  acquaintance  of  the  mighty 
monarch. 

It  follows,  of  course,  that  if  Senator  Smoot  elect 
becomes  Senator,  all  forms  arranged,  and  he  should 
get  a  command  from  the  L/ord  and  find  favor  in  the 
eyes  of  the  ladies  of  all  ages  and  conditions,  "  with- 
out regard  to  color  or  previous  condition  of  servi- 
tude," the  dignity  of  the  State  of  plural  marriages 
would  demand  that  the  Senator  should  have  an 
Endowment  House  in  Washington  ;  and,  indeed,  it 
was  once  proposed  by  one  of  our  most  illustrious 
Presidents  that  each  State  should  find  Senators 


xii  INTRODUCTION. 

mansion  houses  in  Washington  for  their  convenience 
and  as  a  tribute  to  their  States. 

The  idea  was  that  each  sovereign  State  should 
be  regarded  as  a  government,  and  provide  Ambas- 
sadors with  accommodations.  If  Utah  sets  the 
fashion  in  that  respect,  it  would  seem  to  be  in  order 
that  the  elder  States  should  overlook  the  disabilities 
of  youth  in  the  State,  and  follow  the  precedent  of  the 
State  of  largest  liberality  in  expanding  domestic 
facilities  and  providing  home  accommodations, 
according  to  the  large  mindedness  of  Senators,  and 
their  extraordinary  social  and  official  standing.  It 
would  probably  not  take  thirty  days  for  a  Mormon 
Apostle  of  the  United  States — these  two  in  combina- 
tion— one  man  with  two  dignities,  could  get  a  reve- 
lation from  the  Divine  Source,  that  all  Senators 
should  be  taking  plural  wives  into  Washington 
society,  and  shed  upon  them  the  beatitudes,  as  in 
the  case  of  Mormon  Senators  and  gentlemen  and 
each  of  the  named  Senators  would  have  to  fight  for 
his  marriage  vows. 

The  measure  of  Holiness  given  to  Utah  might  be 
rendered  unto  all  the  States,  and  through  the  States 
extended  to  the  Senators.  The  Senate  of  the  United 
States  should  not  be  insensible  to  the  privileges  and 
problems  for  Senators  the  period  affords,  and  take 
time  by  the  forelock  to  adjust  a  code  of  domestic  rules, 
that  is  if  the  Mormons  make  an  Apostle  Senator, 
and  fashion  turns  that  way. 

The  apparent  truth  is  that  the  Mormon  rulers  have 
planned  the  matter  of  uniting  their  Church  with  the 
State,  and  setting  the  example  to  all  the  United 


INTRODUCTION.  xiii 

States.  They  trained  up  Mr.  Sinoot,  so  that  there 
should  be  found  no  personal  objections,  and  no  spot 
or  smirch  on  his  admission  to  the  Senate.  Then  the 
truth  of  the  doctrines  and  the  Holy  habits  of  the 
Saints,  who  take  virgins,  as  they  say,  in  their  official 
language,  for  wives,  and  "  seal "  them  forever  from 
the  sins  of  ordinary  creatures ;  and  hence  the  re- 
markable, and  we  may  say  radical  testimony  that  has 
been  given,  was  under  the  protection  of  sovereign  State- 
hood ;  and  this  is  a  State  question,  and  a  matter  of 
national  and  international  distinction. 

The  volume  of  testimony  that  has  been  taken  in 
course  of  the  Senate  investigation,  proves  that  the 
Mormons,  with  very  scant  ceremony  indeed,  marry 
their  own  mothers-in-law,  and  sisters-in-law,  and  no 
matter  how  many  beloved  sisters  ;  and  that  the  High 
Priests  themselves  have  many  and  costly  families, 
though  the  poor  ones  risk  the  luxury  of  plural 
wives,  housekeeping  in  single  rooms,  light  house- 
keeping at  that.  It  is  so  common  as  to  be  almost  a 
fixed  rule  that  the  Mormon  priest  gets  the  money  and 
the  wives,  and  that  their  invaluable  authority  for 
their  enlarged  lives  is  direct  communication  of  a  per- 
sonal and  confidential  character,  with  the  Author  of 
the  Universe. 

They  wish  to  "  seal  "  their  State  sovereignty  with 
the  "  seal  "  of  the  Church,  that  Church  and  State  shall 
be  under  the  broad  seal  and  extended  wings  of  the 
American  eagle  and  State  Sovereignty,  even  as  one. 
That  is  what  they  have  designed  and  are  doing,  so  far 
as  they  have  not  done  it,  or  have  not  been  caught  at 
it  up  to  date. 


xiv  INTRODUCTION. 

The  most  material  and  instructive  part  of  the 
volume  of  which  this  is  the  Introduction  is  in  this 
history  of  Mormon  mystery  and  crime  ;  and  it  proves 
the  things  here  set  down  and  much  more.  Taken 
as  a  whole,  considering  the  advance  of  the  world,  it 
is  astonishing  as  well  as  an  abomination. 

The  programme  set  forth  by  the  Mormon  Church 
is  that  they  feel  themselves  the  u  predominant  factor" 
in  a  vSovereign  State,  and  propose  to  use  it  for  all  it  is 
worth ;  and  that  is  the  meaning  of  Mr.  Snioot's  elec- 
tion— the  reason  for  exploiting  his  exceptional  per- 
sonal character.  It  is  a  test  case,  and  is  wanted  by 
the  Church  as  representative  that  it  may  overcome 
and  appropriate  the  State.  The  Church  goes  into 
politics  to  seek  safety  for  its  u  mysteries  and  crimes." 
The  Church  and  State  are  to  be  a  joint  fortification, 
if  not  presently  obliterated. 

There  is  nothing  of  the  gross  or  grotesque  sug- 
gested in  this  paper,  we  trust.  The  intent  of  the 
"Apostles  "  is  that  the  State  shall  be  within  the  scope 
of  the  jurisdiction  of  the  Mormon  Church.  The 
sanction  of  the  hideous  situations  evolved  in  the 
Church,  that  the  Senate  investigation  discloses — the 
sworn  testimony  officially  reported  and  printed — does 
not  warrant  and  demand  a  sense  of  humor  or  spirit 
of  levity,  but  it  is  impossible  to  omit  to  mention  the 
dramatic  situations,  hideous  and  lamentable,  far- 
cical and  tragical.  It  is  Shakspearian  in  its  ming- 
ling of  comedy  and  tragedy.  It '  is  the  play  of  a 
Church  with  its  State  in  the  interest  of  an  intoler- 
able superstition  and  imposition. 

The  Mormon  idea  is  that  with  the  sovereign  State 


INTRODUCTION.  xv 

in  the  grasp  of  the  Church,  the  State  becomes  their 
defence,  and  that  they  will  be  the  only  State  Church 
in  the  Union,  unless  others  for  other  reasons  follow 
their  example.  They  have  committed  the  capital 
error  of  believing  in  their  ignorance  of  American  states 
manship,  that  they  can  find  solid  friends  in  Southern 
States,  because  in  the  South  there  is  so  great  a  rev- 
erence for  the  sovereignty  of  States,  that  they  might 
on  theory  champion  Utah  on  that  ground,  and  make 
the  Church  a  Citadel  of  the  State — the  Sword  and 
Shield  of  the  State  !  It  is  sufficient  to  say  this  would 
not  be  American,  and  could  not,  therefore,  have  being. 
The  character  and  education  of  our  people  at  large 
will  not  have  it,  for  many  competent  reasons.  The 
pity  of  it  and  the  shame  is  that  it  shall  be  thrust 
upon  our  country. 

There  is  another  error  in  the  church  conspiracy 
against  the  State,  and  it  is  in  figuring  that  the 
Republican  party  once  denounced  u  slavery  and  poly- 
gamy "  as  the  u  twin  relics  of  barbarism,"  and  now 
the  false  influence  that  there  is  somewhere  resent- 
ment over  the  extinction  of  slavery  that  would  give 
aid  and  comfort  to  the  church,  that  is  to  an  enemy 
of  the  United  States. 

They  have  forgotten  that  there  is  no  public  man 
and  no  public  opinion  in  the  States  where  slavery  was 
abolished  by  war,  that  would  restore  slavery.  The 
South  would  not  call  slavery  back  nor  permit  it,  if 
the  question  was  their  own  exclusively.  It  is  an  im- 
possible thing  to  revive,  North  or  South,  a  sentiment 
for  slavery,  and  Mormonism  will  join  the  procession 
of  doom. 


xvi  INTRODUCTION. 

The  Mormon  Church  has  made  a  mistake  that 
will  wipe  out  their  church  ultimately,  and  never 
harm  the  State.  The  popular  presumption  is  speedily 
the  last  of  the  u  twin  relics, "  and  the  people  in  their 
power  and  their  gracious  good  sense  will  say  Amen. 

Many  years  ago,  Cassius  M.  Clay  was  a  guest  at 
a  public  banquet  in  Philadelphia,  and  many  old  citi- 
zens assembled  to  meet  him  as  the  guest  of  honor, 
many  men  who  had  many  views,  radicals  of  all  sorts, 
with  daring  ideals  and  freedom  of  speech.  Mr. 
Clay's  character  stimulated  adventure  in  speaking 
with  unaccustomed  breadth  and  vigor,  and  he  was 
deeply  interested ;  but,  near  the  close  of  the  feast, 
arose,  moved  by  the  frankness  that  prevailed,  and 
gave  a  humorous  final  turn  to  the  occasion,  saying : 
"  Gentlemen,  may  I  ask,  is  there  a  Mormon  pres- 
ent ?  "  There  was  no  affirmative  response,  but  cries 
of,  "None  in  the  city  of  Brotherly  Love." 

The  Snioot  case  will  abolish  Mormonism  without 
war.  The  scandalous  blemish  will  be  wiped  out  by 
the  irresistible  abrasion  of  the  public  intelligence, 
judgment,  conscience  and  indignation.  The  oppor- 
tunity to  do  this  in  peace  is  fortunate,  and  the  time 
auspicious  for  cleansing  the  country  of  one  of  the 
barbarous  relics  for  which  the  people  of  the  United 
States  had  no  one  to  blame  but  themselves,  for  we 
had  to  accept  from  our  forefathers  the  "  colored  labor  " 
forced  upon  us,  just  as  in  South  Africa  is  Chinese 
labor  now  demanded. 


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INDIANS  OF  UTAH,  SHOWING  THEIR  DRESS  AND  MODE  OF 
CARRYINQ  CHILDREN. 


MRS.    KENNEDY  TESTIFYING   THAT   SHE  WAS  A 
PLURAL  WIFE— SEE  PAGE  544. 


THE   PAVILION   AT  GARFIELD    BEACH,    SALT   LAKE,    UTAH 


GARFIELD   BEACH,  GREAT   SALT    LAKE,    UTAH 


PREFACE. 


AMERICA  is  the  paradise  of  heterodoxy.  All  sorts 
of  wild,  strange  and  even  abominable  religions  flour- 
ish unchecked,  side  by  side,  and  generally  without 
violent  collision. 

The  wild  dreams  of  the  fervid  Oriental  imagination ; 
the  vague  shadowings  of  Gothic  mysticism ;  the 
coarse  materialism  of  French  infidelity,  and  the  ideal 
fancies  of  Greek  and  Asiatic,  all  the  errors  and  worn 
out  theories  of  the  Old  World,  of  schisms  in  the 
early  Church,  the  monkish  age  and  the  rationalistic 
period,  find  here  a  free  air,  a  fertile  soil,  a  more  con- 
genial clime  and  a  second  native  country,  as  it  were, 
in  which  new  and  more  luxuriant  growths  spring 
rapidly  from  the  old  and  half  dead  stocks  of  pseudo- 
theology. 

But  the  inventive  American  mind  is  not  content 
merely  with  old  errors,  and  the  Yankee  is  nothing  if 
not  practical ;  hence  we  see  that  to  every  new  or 
purely  American  phase  of  religous  error,  there  is 
always  tacked  a  feature  of  political  power,  commun- 
ism of  property,  social  license  or  moral  perversion,  a 
general  revolt  against  accepted  theories  in  law, 
medicine,  marriage,  and  social  relations. 

**  1 


PREFACE. 


Let  the  extreme  tend  which  way  it  will,  it  is  equally 
an  extreme ;  whether  of  the  anti-marriage  Shakers, 
the  Celibate  Harmonists,  the  wife-communists  of 
Oneida,  or  the  Polygamous  Mormons.  All  this  is, 
perhaps,  a  necessary  evil. 

In  the  perfect  liberty  of  conscience  guaranteed,  the 
perverted  or  diseased  conscience  is  equally  free  with 
the  pure  or  healthy  ;  and  where  every  man  is  free  to 
choose  as  he  will,  it  is  reasonable  to  suppose  that 
many  will  choose  but  poorly. 

Like  all  good  principles  this  liberty  of  conscience 
is  strangely  liable  to  abuse  ;  but  a  careful  examina- 
tion will  show,  I  think,  that  the  present  condition  is 
far  better,  with  all  its  evil  outgrowths,  than  would  be 
any  aiming  at  repression. 

Suppose  either  of  the  prominent  sects  to  be  made 
the  Established  Church — if  indeed  the  mind  can  possi- 
bly conceive  of  an  Established  Church  in  America — 
the  Methodist,  for  instance  :  then  would  that  church  at 
once  lose  many  of  its  communicants ;  most  people 
would  avoid  it  to  the  farthest  extent  allowed  by  law, 
not  from  any  particular  hostility  to  that  one  church, 
but  simply  because  it  was  established. 

We  may,  indeed,  congratulate  ourselves,  that  with 
such  perfect  liberty  of  choice  so  few  have  adopted 
beliefs  at  all  dangerous  either  to  the  State  or  to 
society;  for  these  last  are  the  only  questions  with 
which  we  have  a  right  to  deal. 

But  certain  forms  of  belief  cannot  possibly  confine 


PREFACE.  3 

themselves  to  speculative  errors  ;  the  perversion  of 
moral  and  ethical  principles  is  too  radical  to  be  con- 
fined to  the  heart,  and  the  hideous  moral  gangrene, 
starting  from  'the  soul  and  center,  works  outwardly 
through  the  life  in  all  manner  of  corruption,  confusion 
and  abomination. 

When  the  faith  is  perfectly  inwrought,  it  cannot 
but  show  itself  in  acts,  and  with  these  the  State  has 
a  right  to  deal.  Perfect  toleration  is  due  to  all  beliefs, 
and  these  gross  forms  of  error  only  demand  attention 
when  endeavoring,  against  the  good  of  the  State,  to 
make  a  peculiar  moral  condition  the  general  law  for 
a  whole  people,  and  still  more  as  laboring  to  radically 
pervert  the  Christian  idea  of  marriage. 

If  the  experience  of  all  civilized  nations  for  three 
thousand  years,  and  the  best  judgment  of  the  best 
minds  in  law  founded  upon  that  experience,  have 
proved  any  one  fact  more  than  another,  it  is  that  the 
marriage  relation  should  be  strictly  regulated  by  law, 
that  the  State  has  an  absolute  right  to  prescribe  the  civil 
conditions  accompanying  and  the  civil  rights  resulting 
from  it ;  and  that  the  human  passions,  whether 
excited  by  mere  lust  or  by  religious  fanaticism,  must 
be  controlled  by  positive  law. 

It  matters  not  if  an  individual  esteem  it  his  natural 
right  to  act  contrary  to  express  law,  or  if  several 
individuals  constituting  a  community  believe  it  to  be 
a  religious  right ;  they  are  equally  subject  thereto, 
and  must  take  the  legal  consequence  of  disobedience. 


4  PREFACE. 

It  is  then  a  gratifying  fact,  that  so  few  have  adopted 
beliefs  tending  to  pervert  the  marriage  relation.  Of 
the  more  than  seventy  millions  in  America  less  than 
half  a  million  are  included  in  all  of  such  sects.  In 
this  light  liberty  of  conscience  in  America  is  almost 
a  perfect  success. 

The  vast  majority  of  our  people  have  founded  their 
religious  belief  on  theories  not  inimical  to  the  public 
good;  and  the  .scores  of  varying  sects  which  have 
arisen  only  to  run  a  brief  and  meteor-like  race,  and 
sink  like  dissolved  exhalations  in  the  bogs  and  mire 
of  ignorance  from  which  they  arose. 

But  occasionally  we  see  one  of  these  parasitic 
growths  upon  the  body  of  religious  freedom,  which, 
from  peculiar  and  special  causes,  extends  its  exist- 
ence  beyond  what  we  would  naturally  look  for ;  and 
a  few,  originally  transplanted  from  Europe  where  the 
parent  organization  has  long  since  expired,  maintain 
a  sort  of  sickly  life  through  two  or  three  generations 
in  America. 

Of  such  are  the  Shakers  from  England  and  the 
Harmonists  from  Germany.  But  where  in  contact 
with  vital  Christianity,  they  must  sooner  or  later 
yield ;  their  wild  enthusiasm  is  sufficient  for  rise  and 
growth,  but  lacks  the  virtuous  energy  to  direct  and 
continue.  To  such,  comparatively  innocent  and  harm- 
less, the  public  direct  little  attention. 

But  there  are  a  few  which  manage  to  preserve  a 
sort  of  isolation  even  in  the  midst  of  other  sects.  01 


PREFACE.  5 

in  extreme  cases,  to  get  apart  and  aside,  and  maintain 
for  a  long  period  an  independent  existence. 

Of  these  none  have  attained  to  such  prominence  as 
the  sect  called  Mormons.  Having  leaders  at  once 
sagacious  and  unscrupulous,  they  have  long  managed 
to  avoid  whatever  contact  would  weaken  their  organi- 
zation. 

We  have  seen  them,  from  small  and  obscure  be- 
ginnings, rise  to  a  strength  sufficient  to  create  a  local 
rebellion  in  Missouri ;  transplanted  thence  to  Illinois, 
rise  to  a  threatening  power ;  transplanted  again, 
flourish  rapidly  for  a  while,  and  though  now  evi- 
dently on  the  decline,  yet -strong  enough  to  create  a 
difficult  and  delicate  political  problem,  and  like  the 
Bohon  Upas,  overshadow  a  whole  Territory  with  a 
deadly  influence. 

Scattered  through  the  nation  Mormonism  would 
be  the  weakest  of  all  religions ;  collected  in  one 
State,  and  ruling  there  with  almost  absolute 
power,  they  present  a  painfully  interesting  problem. 
Comparatively,  their  numbers  are  trifling ;  locally, 
they  are  of  great  importance. 

In  the  light  of  the  principles,  here  .enunciated,  and 
with  perfect  confidence  in  their  correctness,  this  work 
has  been  prepared ;  with  a  view  to  the  better  enlight- 
enment of  the  American  public  on  this  question  and 
if  possible,  to  make  the  duty  of  Government  and 
people  more  plain,  to  set  forth  the  most  salient  points 
in  the-  progress  of  religious  imposture,  and  to  invite 


6  PREFACE. 

the  attention  of  the  reader  to  a  State  rich  in  natural 
resources. 

This  work  contains  all  the  material  facts  of  interest 
in  regard  to  Utah  and  the  Mormons  ;  whether  of  the 
climate  and  resources  of  the  former,  or  the  history, 
theology  and  peculiar  social  practices  of  the  latter. 

The  history  of  the  sect  is  drawn  from  many 
sources  :  from  their  own  works,  from  personal  records 
of  several  who  have  spent  many  years  among  them, 
from  evidence  published  by  the  State  of  Missouri, 
from  official  documents  of  States  or  the  General  Gov- 
ernment, from  previous  compilations  and  other  accred- 
ited sources. 

The  author's  unusual  opportunities  for  personal 
observations  of  the  lives  and  teachings  of  the  Mor- 
mon leaders  will  be  understood  when  it  is  remem- 
bered that  for  many  years  he  resided  in  Salt  Lake 
City  as  editor  of  the  Salt  Lake  Reporter  and  Clerk 
of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  Territory  before  Utah 
was  admitted  into  the  Union  as  a  State: 

J.  H.  BEADLE. 


A  CONCISE  ESTIMATE  OF  MORMONISM. 

The  following  able  article,  written  by  Louis  N.  Megargee 
and  published  in  his  weekly  magazine,  "  Seen  and  Heard, " 
gives  a  good  insight  into  Mormonism  in  a  condensed  form. 

"The  question  of  admission  of  Smoot,  the  Mormon,  to  a 
Congressional  seat  being  a  matter  of  public  discussion,  it 
might  not  be  amiss  to  take  a  dip  into  the  history  of  the 
inner  and  secret  part  of  that  religious  organization  known 
as  the  'Danites,'  or  '  Destroying  Angels.' 

u Readers  of  Joaquin  Miller's  famous  novel,  'The 
Danites,'  will  remember  what  silent  gloom  the  mere  men- 
tion of  that  dreaded  association  cast  over  even  the  hardy 
pioneers  of  the  Far  West.  This  secret  society  of  Mormon 
devotees  was  organized  in  1839,  ostensibly  for  the  defense 
of  the  Mormons  against  those  who  opposed  their  religious 
tenets,  and  its  members  were  always  supposed  by  the  Gen- 
tiles to  have  acted  by  authority  of  the  officers  of  the  Mor- 
mon Church.  Originally  this  band  of  thugs  was  about  300 
in  number,  and  its  members  were  bound  by  blood-curdling 
oaths  and  fatal  penalties  to  sustain  one  another  in  all 
things.  Numerous  assassinations  and  outrages  were  laid 
at  their  door. 

"  Defenders  of  the  Mormon  Church,  however,  have 
always  insisted  orally  and  in  public  prints  which  make  up 
the  history  of  the  Latter  Day  Saints,  that  the  Danites  had 
no  connection  with  the  religious  body  of  which  they  were 
individually  members,  and  that  they  were  organized  by  one 
Sampson  Avard  on  his  own  responsibility  and  for  the  pur- 
poses of  rapine  and  plunder.  They  contended  further  that 
as  soon  as  the  practices  of  the  c  Destroying  Angels  '  became 
known  to  the  elders  of  the  Tabernacle,  Avard  and  all  who 
persisted  in  remaining  in  association  with  him  were  cut  off 
from  membership  in  the  Mormon  Church. 

"Unfortunately,  however,  for  this  contention  there  is 
7 


A   CONCISE    ESTIMATE   OF    MORMONISM. 

testimony  on  record  which  robs  it  of  the  color  of  truth. 
When  the  Mormons  had  fled  into  Missouri  they  became 
involved  in  numerous  quarrels  with  the  inhabitants  of  that 
State,  who  accused  them  of  acts  of  plunder  of  incen- 
diarism, and  of  secret  assassination.  They  were  driven 
from  Jackson  County  into  Clay  County,  and  thence  into 
Caldwell  County,  where  they  settled  at  the  town  of  Far 
West. 

"  Conflicts  between  the  Saints  and  the  Gentiles  still  con- 
tinued, many  being  killed  on  both  sides,  and  in  the  midst 
of  these  dire  troubles  internal  dissensions  broke  out  among 
prominent  members  of  the  sect.  Several  of  their  chief 
elders  apostasized  and  openly  accused  President  Joseph 
Smith  of  gross  crimes  and  frauds. 

"On  October  24,  1838,  Thomas  B.  March,  President  of 
the  Twelve  Apostles,  and  Orson  Hyde,  also  one  of  the 
Apostles,  made,  before  a  Justice  of  the  Peace,  in  Ray 
County,  Missouri,  an  affidavit  in  which  March,  cor- 
roborated by  Hyde,  said  :  '  They  have  among  them  a 
company  consisting  of  all  that  are  considered  true  Mor- 
mons, called  the  "  Danites,"  who  have  taken  an  oath  to 
support  the  heads  of  the  Church  in  all  things  that  they  say 
or  do  whether  right  or  wrong.  The  plan  of  said  Smith, 
the  Prophet,  is  to  take  this  State  (Missouri),  and  he  pro- 
fesses to  his  people  to  intend  taking  the  United  States,  and 
ultimately  the  whole  world.' 

"  The  defiant  and  menacing  tone  of  the  Mormon  leaders 
at  that  time  did  much  to  confirm  the  public  belief,  which 
exists  to  this  day  and  will  probably  never  be  erased  that 
the  Danites  were  an  inner  sect  of  the  Church  dedicated  to 
acts  of  assassination.  In  a  sermon  preached  in  1838,  at 
Far  West,  Sidney  Rigdon,  then  one  of  the  three  Presidents  of 
the  Church,  said  :  *  We  take  God  and  all  the  holy  angels 
to  witness  this  day  that  we  warn  all  men,  in  the  name  of 
Jesus  Christ,  to  come  on  us  no  more  forever. 

" 4  The  men,  or  set  of  men,  who  attempt  it  do  it  at  the 
expense  of  their  lives.  And  that  mob  that  comes  on  us  to 


A    CONCISE    ESTIMATE    OF    MORMONISM.  9 

disturb  us  it  shall  be  between  them  and  us  a  war  of  exter- 
mination, for  we  will  follow  them  till  the  last  drop  of  their 
blood  is  spilled,  or  else  they  will  have  to  exterminate  us. 
Or  we  will  carry  the  seat  of  war  to  their  own  houses  and 
their  own  families,  and  one  party  or  the  other  shall  be 
utterly  destroyed.' 

"Talk  such  as  this  naturally  led  to  defiance  of  the  law, 
and  the  militia  of  the  State  being  called  out,  the  Mormons 
were  driven  from  Missouri  and  across  the  Mississippi  River 
into  Illinois,  where  they  were  joined  by  Smith,  who  had 
broken  out  of  jail,  where  he  had  been  confined  with  Rig- 
don,  charged  with  treason,  murder  and  felony.  In  Illinois 
the  L/atter  Day  Saints  were  kindly  received  and  were  given 
a  large  tract  of  land  in  the  hope  that  they  would  improve 
the  value  of  the  adjoining  property. 

u  There  they  created  the  famous  city  of  Nauvoo,  for 
which  the  Legislature  of  Illinois  granted  a  charter  and 
extended  to  Smith  extraordinary  privileges  and  power.  It 
was  there  that  he  first  secretly  broached  the  doctrine  of 
polygamy,  although  publicly  declaiming  against  it.  His 
solicitation,  however,  for  spiritual  wives  became  so  open 
and  notorious  that  a  number  of  men,  whose  spouses  had 
been  approached,  renounced  Mormonism  and  began  in  Nau- 
voo the  publication  of  a  newspaper  named  the  Expositor. 

* '  In  its  first  number  they  printed  the  affidavits  of  sixteen 
women  to  the  effect  that  Smith,  Rigdon  and  others  had  en- 
deavored to  convert  them  to  the  spiritual  wife  doctrine  and 
to  seduce  them  from  their  husbands  on  the  pleas  of  special 
revelations  from  heaven.  This  publication  created  great 
excitement,  and  on  May  6,  1844,  Smith  and  a  number  of 
his  adherents  razed  the  Expositor  office  to  the  ground,  de- 
stroying the  presses  and  all  the  contents  of  the  building. 
Its  publishers  fled  to  Carthage,  where  they  obtained  war- 
rants of  arrest  for  Smith,  his  brother  and  sixteen  others. 
When  this  document  was  served  upon  the  Mormon  presi- 
dent, he  refused  to  obey  and  the  constable  was  driven  from 
Nauvoo. 


10  A    CONCISE    ESTIMATE    OF    MORMON1SM. 

"  The  militia  was  called  upon  to  enforce  the  law.  Civil 
war  seemed  imminent,  when  the  Governor  of  Illinois  in- 
duced the  two  Smiths  to  surrender  and  stand  trial.  They 
were  imprisoned  in  the  Carthage  jail,  which,  on  June  27, 
was  attacked  by  an  infuriated  mob,  the  armed  guard  over- 
powered and  a  deadly  fire  directed  through  the  windows  of 
the  prison  upon  the  inmates. 

"Hyrum  Smith  was  instantly  killed.  President  Joseph 
Smith  returned  the  fire  of  his  assailants  with  a  revolver 
and  then  attempted  to  escape  through  a  window,-  but  as  he 
leaped,  a  well  directed  missile  reached  his  heart  and  he  fell 
lifeless  upon  the  ground.  Smith  was  succeeded  as  the 
head  of  the  Church  by  Brighani  Young,  a  man  of  rare 
executive  ability,  for  whom  it  is  claimed  that  he  cut  off 
the  Danites  from  membership  in  the  Mormon  Church. 
The  ridiculous  nature,  however,  of  this  claim  is  revealed  in 
the  fact  that  it  was  in  1857,  thirteen  years  after  the  death 
of  Joseph  Smith,  that  the  Mountain  Meadows  massacre 
was  committed. 

u  Certainly  it  is  not  necessary  to  recall  that  infamous 
deed  of  blood,  whereby  an  Arkansas  immigrant  company, 
numbering  one  hundred  and  thirty- two  souls — men  women 
and  children — was  so  thoroughly  exterminated  that  none 
lived  to  tell  the  tale  except  a  few  children  too  young  to 
have  any  knowledge  of  the  tragedy.  That  deed  was 
plotted  and  executed  by  the  leaders  of  the  Mormon  Church^ 
and  so  disdainful  were  they  of  the  law  that  it  was  not  until 
1877  that  John  D.  Lee  was  executed  for  participation  in 
the  massacre  of  twenty  years  before.  He  was  a  Mormon 
elder,  and  the  testimony  upon  which  he  was  convicted 
indubitably  proved  that  Brigham  Young  and  his  followers 
were  guilty  of  the  wholesale  assassination. 

u  These  are  historical  facts. 

"Smoot  should  be  kept  out  of  Congress  as  a  United 
States  Senator." 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  I 

THE   SEED-BED   OF    FANATICISM. 

The  problem  stated — Religious  movements  of  1800-'30 — Con- 
vulsions, trances,  jerks  and  visions — Sidney  Rigdon's 
"  Disciples  "  at  Mentor,  Ohio — Hon.  James  A.  Garfield's 
opinion — Joseph  Smith  and  family — Origin  of  the  fraud .  21 

CHAPTER  II. 

• 

ZION   IN   MISSOURI. 

The  Mormon  church  organized — Conversion  of  the  Pratts — 
Rapid  growth — Sidney  Rigdon's  disciples  come  in  en  masse 
— Kirtland  headquarters — Foundation  of  Zion  in  Missouri 
— Threats  against  the  Gentiles — Gentile  resistance — War 
— Mormons  expelled  from  Jackson  county  .  .  .33 

CHAPTER  III. 

KIRTLAND   COMMUNISM   AND    MISSOURI   WAB. 

Gathering  of  the  deluded — Thorough  organization  of  the  new 
church — Mill,  store  and  bank  established — Communism 
inaugurated — The  great  explosion — Smith  and  Rigdon 
flee  to  Missouri — War  breaks  out — Horrible  atrocities  on 
both  sides — Governor  Boggs'  "exterminating  order" — 
Hawn's  mill  massacre — Mormons  driven  from  the  State  .  43 

11 


1-  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  IV. 

THE   NAUVOO   WONDER. 

Alliance  between  the  Prophet  and  the  land  speculator — Sudden 
and  astonishing  growth  of  Nauvoo — Political  trickery— - 
Mormons  a  power  in  Illinois — The  remarkable  charters — 
Malign  influence  in  the  courts — Crime,  trickery,  and 
polygamy — Intrigues  of  Dr.  Bennett  and  the  Prophet — 
Outrageous  treatment  of  Mrs.  Orson  Pratt — Dark  days 
at  hand W 

CHAPTER  V. 
THE  ANTI-MORMONS'  REVENGE. 

Hostility  aroused — Spiritual  wifery  exposed — Martha  Bro- 
therton's  revelations — The  "  Expositor  "  destroyed  by  a 
Mormon  mob — Civil  war  breaks  out — Flight  of  the 
Smiths — Recalled  by  Emma  Smith — They  surrender  and 
are  assassinated  in  jail 75 

CHAPTER  VI. 

THE   MORMONS    EXPELLED   FROM    ILLINOIS. 

Funeral  of  the  Smiths — Remarkable  disposition  of  the  bodies — 
Arrest  and  trial  of  those  accused  of  the  killing— Recon- 
struction of  the  church — The  Twelve  Apostles  take  the 
reins — Murder  of  Miller  and  Leiza — "Perfect  oneness" 
— War  renewed — Murders  of  Worrall,  Wilcox,  McBrat- 
ney,  Durfee  and  Daubeneyer — Iowa  and  Western  Illinois 
combine  to  expel  the  Mormons — The  "Wolf-Hunters" 
— Closing  scenes  of  war,  murder  and  misery — GentUe 
Nauvoo ...  92 

CHAPTER  VII. 

SETTLEMENT   IN    UTAH. 

The  Via  Dolorosa— Orson  Hyde  and  Bill  Hickraan  "  regulate  " 
bad  characters — Mormon  battalion  enlisted  for  Mexican 


CONTENTS.  13 

war — Colonel  Kane's  life  among  the  Mormons — Pioneer 
band  goes  to  Utah — State  of  Deseret — Utah  organized — 
Governor  Brigham  Young — Trouble  with  officials — Gen- 
tiles fly  the  Territory — Official  account  of  Utah  affairs — 
Mormons  in  open  rebellion  .  .  .  '  .  .  .113 

CHAPTER  VIIL 

THE   REIGN   OF   TERROR. 

Epidemic  madness — All  Utah  goes  crazy — The  Mormon  em- 
pire projected ;  1,200  by  800  miles  in  area — Outposts  from 
British  America  to  Mexico — The  hand-cart  scheme — 
Horrible  suffering — The  "Reformation" — Jeddy  Grant 
— Blood-atonement — Mutilation  and  murder — "Shed  hi? 
blood  and  save  his  soul " — Murder  of  the  Parrishes, 
Potter,  Henry  Jones  and  mother,  the  bishop's  wife,  and 
many  others — Recovery  from  the  madness — Startling 
news  from  Washington — War  at  hand  and  a  fresh  im- 
pulse of  madness  .  132 

CHAPTER  IX. 

THE   MORMON    WAR   OP    1857. 

"Anniversary  Day  "  in  Big  Cottonwood — A.  O.  Smoot's  start- 
ling news — "I  am  ready  for  the  devils" — Approach  of 
the  United  States  army — Captain  Van  Vliet's  mission 
— Brigham  forbids  the  United  States  to  trespass — "  Up, 
awake,  ye  defenders  of  Zion  " — "  Du  dah,  du  dah,  day !  " 
— Colonel  Kane  saves  the  Mormons — Governor  Cumming 
— Commissioners  Powell  and  McCullogh — Entrance  of 
the  army — Flight  of  the  Saints — Their  misery  and  poverty 
—End  of  the  war 149 

CHAPTER  X. 

THE    MORMON    MURDERERS. 

CUuses  of  the  Mountain  Meadows  massacre — Death  of  Apostla 
Pratt — Vengeance  sworn  against  Arkansas — The  wealthy 


14  CONTENTS. 

emigrants — Their  destruction  decreed — "Let  the  Al- 
mighty's arrows  drink  the  blood  of  the  accursed  Gentiles" 
—John  D.  Lee's  council — The  emigrants  treacherously 
captured — The  awful  massacre — The  long  delay  of  jus- 
tice— The  author  visits  Lee  and  hears  his  confession — 
Lee  arrested — National  interest — Lee's  trial  and  execu- 
tion .  .  ;  m 166 

CHAPTER  XL 

THE  GOVERNMENT   TAKES    A   HAND   IN   UTAH. 

The  Judges  make  inquiry  into  "blood-atonement" — Investi- 
gation of  the  crimes  of  1856-'57 — A  fresh  outbreak — 
Murders  of  Drown,  Arnold,  Sergeant  Pike,  Franklin  Mc- 
Neil and  others — Civil  war  in  the  States  and  Mormon 
glee — Departure  of  Johnston's  army — Profits  to  the 
Prophets  —  Brigham's  despotism  restored  —  Governors 
Dawson,  Harding,  Doty  and  Durkee — Secretaries  Wooton, 
Fuller,  Reed  and  Higgins — Murders  of  Potter,  Wilson, 
Walker  and  Black  Tom — Of  Brassfield  and  Robinson — 
Panic  of  the  Gentiles — Peace  restored — The  author  ar- 
rives in  Utah  .........  188 

CHAPTER  XII. 

MY    FIRST   YEAR   IN   UTAH. 

First  impressions — The  Holy  City — Topography — Mormon 
leaders — Travels  in  Utah — "Pulling  hair" — Beastly 
cases  of  polygamy — Mormon  conference — Votes  non-in- 
tercourse with  Gentiles — A  dreary  winter — Corinne — 
The  Sevier  mines — The  author  mobbed — Sent  to  Wash- 
ington— Signs  of  a  better  day 206 

CHAPTER   XIII. 

THE   DEBATE   ON   POLYGAMY. 

Dr.  J.  P.  Newman — Debate  at  long  range — Debate  in  Salt 
Lake  City — Example  of  the  Israelites — The  author's  ob- 


CONTENTS.  15 

servations — Hypocrisy  on  the  subject — A  broken  heart — 
Nameless  horrors — Marries  his  nieces — Marriage  of  half- 
brother  and  sister — Brigham  justifies  incest — Hepworth 
Dixon's  testimony — Misery  of  women — Infant  mortality 
— Degradation  of  all — General  effects  ....  239 

CHAPTER   XIV. 

MORMON    DOCTRINES. 

A  theologic  conglomerate — Sidney  Rigdon's  part — Joseph 
Smith's — Orson  and  Parley  Pratt's — Brigham  Young's — 
Wonderful  growth  of  Mormonism  in  England — Analysis 
of  the  faith — Gods,  angels,  spirits,  and  men — Birth  of 
spirits — Adam  falls  uphill—"  The  Holy  Oil  " — Prayer 
cures — Josephites  on  polygamy — Their  able  arguments — 
Gross  perversions  of  Scripture  by  Brighamites — Eclectic 
theology v 274 

CHAPTER  XV. 

MORMON   SOCIETY. 

A  supposition — Collection  of  the  queer  ones — A  few  sharp 
managers  —  The  unfortunate  and  criminal  —  "Sydney 
Coves  " — "  Hickory  Mormons  " — Broad  humor — Poet- 
esses, as  it  were — A  rich  field  for  satire — The  badly 
tithed  victim — Lying  for  one's  religion  ....  30$ 

CHAPTER   XVI. 

MORMON    GOVERNMENT. 

Absolutism— An  ancient  model— Three  governments  in  Utah 
—Church  officials— First  President — First  Presidency — 
"  The  worst  man  in  Utah  "—Quorum  of  Apostles—"  The 
Twelve  " — A  dozen  men  with  fifty-two  wives — President 
of  Seventies — Patriarch — "A  blessing  for  a  dollar" — 
Bishops — High  Council — Judge  and  jury — Ward  teacher 


CONTENTS. 

— The  confessional — Evangelists — Secret  police  or  "  Dan- 
ites  " — Civil  government  only  an  appendage — Excessive 
power  of  the  Mormon  Courts — Perversions  of  law  and 
justice — Organic  Act  defective — Federal  Judges — Their 
weakness  and  disgrace — Verdicts  dictated  from  the  pulpit 
— Probate  Judges  really  appointed  by  Brigham  Young 
— Voting  system — "  Protecting  the  ballot  " — The  Hooper- 
McGroarty  race — Plurality  of  offices  as  well  as  wives — 
Tyranny  of  the  Church — The  Mormon  vs.  the  American 
idea — The  evils  of  which  Gentiles  complain  .  .  .  329 

CHAPTER  XVIL 

THE   MORMON   TERRITORY. 

Territorial  limits—"  Basins  "— "  Sinks  "— "  Flats  "—Rain  and 
evaporation — Elemental  action  and  reaction — Potamology 
—  Jordan  —  Kay's  Creek — Weber — Bear  River — Cache 
Valley  —  Timber  —  Blue  Creek  —  Promontory —  Great 
Desert — Utah  Lake — Spanish  Fork — Salt  Creek— Tim- 
panogos — Sevier  River — Colorado  System — Fish— Ther- 
mal and  Chemical  Springs — Healing  Waters — Hotwater 
plants — Analysis  by  Dr.  Gale — Mineral  Springs — Salt 
beds — Alkali  flats — Native  Salts — GREAT  SALT  LAKE — 
First  accounts  —  FREMONT  —  STANSBURY  —  Amount  of 
salt — Valleys — Rise  of  the  Lake — Islands — Bear  Lake — 
"  Ginasticutis" — Utah  Lake — Climate — Increase  of  rain — 
Singular  phenomena — Fine  air — Relief  for  pulmonary 
complaints — Natural  wealth  of  Utah — Game — Indians 
and  Mormons 353 

CHAPTER  XVIII. 

MORMON   MYSTERIES   AND   SECRET   MARRIAGES. 

The  endowment — Actors — Scenery  and  dress — Prerequisite? 
— Adam  and  Eve,  The  Devil  and  Michael,  Jehovah  and 


THE   MAGNIFICENT   MORMON   TEMPLE,  SALT   LAKE  CITY, 


FAVORITE  WIFE  OF  A  WELL-KNOWN  MORMON  APOSTLE 


CARDO    PALACE-THE   RESIDENCE  OF  AMELIA,   WHO  WAS   FOR   MANY 
YEARS   THE   HAVORITE   WIFE   OF   BRIGHAM   YOUNG. 


CONTENTS.  1 7 

Eloheim — A  new  version — Blasphemous  assumptions — 
Terrible  oaths — Barbarous  penalties — Origin — Scriptures 
and  "  Paradise  Lost " — Eleusinian  mysteries — "  Morgan's 
Freemasonry  "  —  The  witnesses  —  Probabilities  —  Their 
reasons — Changes — Secret  marriages — No  proof — Beating 
the  Gentile  courts  ....  ...  393 

CHAPTER  XIX. 

UTAH   UNDER   GRANT   I. 

The  forward  movement — Attack  on  the  entire  Mormon  posi- 
tion— Judges  Wilson,  Hawley,  and  Strickland — Chief- 
Justice  McKean — Governor  J.  W.  Shaffer — Secretary 
and  Governor  Vaughan — Secretary  Black  and  the  Nau- 
voo  Legion — Movement  for  a  State  government — Judge 
McKean's  court  overthrown — His  character  .  .416 

CHAPTER  XX. 

UTAH    UNDER   GRANT    II.   AND   HAYES. 

The  author's  researches  in  Southern  Utah — John  D.  Lee, 
Jacob  Hamlin,  Bishop  Windsor,  Bishop  Haight  and 
other  worthies — Campaign  of  1872 — The  Poland  bill — 
Prosecutions  under  it — Frightful  perjury — Some  polyga- 
mists  convicted  at  last — Renewed  action  against  polygamy 
—Mrs.  Froiseth's  Anti-Polygamy  Standard — President 
Hayes'  views  ...  .  .  444 

CHAPTER  XXI. 

BRIGHAM    YOUNG. 

His  remarkable  position — Compared  with  Queen  Victoria  and 
the  Pope — His  birth,  conversion  and  rise  i.  Mormonism 
— Marries  Mary  Ann  Angell,  Lucy  Decker  Seely,  Clara 
Decker,  Clara  Chase,  Harriet  Bowker,  Lucy  Bigelow, 
Harriet  Barney  e.t  a  I. — Death  and  funeral  ceremonies — 
*** 


18  CONTENTS. 

His  will — Church   reorganized — John  W.  Young  left 
out — Brigham's  character — Was  he  a  success?  ....  474 

CHAPTER  XXII. 

DISSENTING    MORMON    SECTS. 

Natural  tendency  to  dissent — The  Nauvoo  breakup — James 
Jesse  Strang — Reappearance  of  Dr.  John  C.  Bennett — 
Voree — Kingdom  on  Beaver  Island — Murder  of  Strang 
— Joseph  Morris — Trouble  with  the  law — Murder  of 
Morris,  Banks  and  the  women — Dispersion  of  the  Mor- 
risites — '*  Reorganized  Church  " — Young  Joe  Smith — 
David  Hyrum  Smith — William  Alexander  Smith — Raid 
of  1869 — Present  Condition — Ggdbeites — Changes  in 
the  Brighamite  Church 499 

CHAPTER  XXIII. 

CONTROVERSY     OVER      REED      SMOOT,     UNITED     STATES 
SENATOR    FROM    UTAH. 

Member  of  the  Mormon  Church — Son  of  a  Pioneer — Polyga- 
mous Marriage — Leading  Banker — Protest  from 
Citizens  of  Utah — Agitation  throughout  the  country — 
Senate  Investigating  Committee — President  Joseph  T. 
Smith  on  the  Witness  Stand — Mormon  Leaders  Defy 
the  Law  of  the  Land — Smith  declares  himself  a 
polygamist — Admits  having  many  Wives — Refuses  to 
obey  the  Law  of  the  Land — Marriages  for  Eternity — 
Rights  of  Women — Wife's  consent  not  asked — Witness 
not  a  "  Spotter  or  Informer  *' — Revelation  above  Law.  525 

CHAPTER   XXIV. 

STARTLING   DISCLOSURES    BY    LEADING    MORMONS. 

President  Smith  Confesses  Himself  Guilty — An  Interesting 
Patriarch — Personal  Appearance — A  Martyr  in  Mor- 


CONTENTS.  19 

mon  Eyes — Sympathy  Turns  to  Disgust — Value  of 
Revelation — Consented  to  Smoot's  Election — Forty- 
two  Children  and  Proud  of  All — Traces  Polygamy  Back 
to  Abraham — Plural  Wife  when  Seventeen  Years  Old — 
Maltreated  by  Mormon  Husband  and  Left  Him — Apos- 
tle Merrill — Polygamous  Marriage — More  than  One 
Hundred  Relatives — Apostle  Lyman  on  the  Stand — 
Surprising  Confessions — People's  Voice  above  God's  .  539 

CHAPTER   XXV. 

HIGH    OFFICIALS    STILL   PRACTICING    POLYGAMY. 

A  Happy  Family — Dinners  and  Euchre  Parties — Favorite 
Wife — Plural  Marriages  Again — Sealing  for  Eternity 
— Authority  for  Polygamy — Mormons  Perjure  Them- 
selves in  Court — Mormon  Sects  Condemned  by  Admis- 
sions of  Its  Own  Members — Critchlow's  Evidence — 
The  Hierarchy  Responsible  for  Political  Measures — 
Celestial  Marriage  of  Dr.  Park — Prominent  Women 
Agitators — Polygamy  the  u  Seed  and  Glory  "  of  Mor- 
monism- — Mormons  of  Brooklyn  in  Conflict  with  Mor- 
mons of  Utah — Sentiment  of  American  Pulpit  .  .  .  553 

CHAPTER   XXVI. 

Story  of  a  Woman  who  Relates  her  Disgusting  Experiences 
when  she  was  Initiated  into  the  Secret  Rites  and 
Mysteries  of  Mormonism  in  the  Endowment  House  .  .  570 

CHAPTER   XXVII. 

Thrilling  Experiences  of  a  Woman  who  went  from  Nauvoo, 
111.,  to  Utah  with  the  Mormons  and  Remained  there 
Many  Years  While  Brigham  Young  was  President — 
Narrow  Escape  from  Becoming  a  "  Spiritual  Wife''  .  578 

CHAPTER  XXVIII. 

Brigham  H.  Roberts — A  Member  of  Congress  until  For- 
mally Expelled — Testimony  Before  the  Senate  Investi- 
gating Committee — Openly  Avows  his  Disregard  of  the 
Law  Against  Polygamy — Moral  Obligations  to  Main- 
tain Polygamous  Relations  Outweigh  the  Civil  Statutes 
Against  Polygamy — Commands  of  the  Mormon  Church 
are  Superior  to  Duties  Imposed  by  the  Law  ....  593 


POLYGAMY; 

OR,   THE 

MYSTERIES  AND  CRIMES  OF  MORMONISM. 


CHAPTER    I. 

THE   HOT-BED   OF    FANATACISM. 

The  problem  stated — Religious  movements  of  1800-'30 — Convulsions,  trances, 
jerks  and  visions — Sidney  Kigdon's  "Disciples",  at  Mentor,  Ohio — Hon. 
James  A.  Garfield's  opinion — Joseph  Smith  and  family — Origin  of  the 
fraud. 

UTAH  is  the  great  American  contradiction.  The  world 
stands  amazed  that  the  great  Republic  tolerates  in  its  domain  a 
theocratic  despotism.  Christendom  is  scandalized  that  out  of  its 
bosom  has  come  a  sect  which  has  rejected  the  lessons  of  ages,  and 
gone  back  for  a  model  to  the  childhood  of  faith.  Economists 
are  puzzled  by  a  commonwealth  in  which  virtue  is  counted  as 
a  heresy  and  plurality  of  wives  a  mark  of  religious  perfec- 
tion. Politicians  wonder  at  a  government  without  political 
parties ;  philosophy  is  confounded  by  a  revival  of  heathenism  in 
the  nineteenth  century,  and  social  scientists  are  shocked  by  the 
defense  of  blood-atonement  and  the  open,  defiant  practice  of 
incest  and  polygamy.  These  are  the  features  which  make  Mor- 
monism  interesting ;  for  as  a  religious  sect  merely  it  would  be 
beneath  universal  contempt.  To  trace  its  origin  in  the  hot-bed 
of  American  fanaticism,  to  set  forth  the  gross  features  imposed 
on  it  by  the  gross  passions  of  a  few  men,  to  point  out  its  real 
weaknesses  and  relate  its  erratic  history,  is  the  object  of  this 
work. 

21 


22  POLYGAMY;    OR,    THE    MYSTERIES 

If  the  geologist,  laboriously  searching  out  the  beginnings  and 
development  of  life  on  this  planet,  could  have  brought  before 
him  one  living  representative  of  the  Age  of  Monsters,  what 
problems  would  be  solved  !  At  best  the  reconstructed  mylodon, 
and  the  plesiosaurus  restored,  are  but  plausible  guesses  at  the 
life  as  it  was — the  living  creature  would  furnish  an  infallible 
guide  to  the  secrets  of  that  primeval  day.  What  the  revived 
monster  might  be  to  the  comparative  anatomist,  Mormonism  w 
to  the  comparative  theologian.  Here  is  a  religion  born  and 
developed  in  our  own  day;  here  are  prophets  and  apostles  of 
our  own  race,  revelations  in  the  vulgar  tongue  reported  by 
telegraph,  and  printed  in  daily  papers,  and  withal  a  list  of 
wonders  rivalling  the  fruitful  annals  of  Israel,  and  a  roll  of 
martyrs  equal  to  that  of  the  primitive  church.  We  have  seen 
this  religion  take  shape,  and  can  deduce  therefrom  some  safe 
rules  to  judge  of  the  origin  of  other  religions  now  hoary  with 
age.  I  shall  begin,  therefore,  with  a  portrayal  of  the  peculiar 
condition  which  made  Mormonism  possible,  and  follow  its  his- 
tory as  it  naturally  unfolds  through  the  five  distinct  phases  it 
has  exhibited. 

The  War  of  1812-'!  5  was  followed,  like  most  wars,  by  an 
era  of  great  enterprise,  ending  in  a  terrible  financial  convulsion; 
this  was  succeeded  in  the  natural  order  by  a  greatly  increased 
emigration  to  the  then  West,  and  a  marvelous  religious  excite- 
ment which  swept  the  sparse  settlements  of  Ohio  and  Kentucky 
like  a  hurricane.  Pouring  through  the  Alleghany  passes  came 
tens  of  thousands  of  men  of  broken  or  desperate  fortunes,  and 
spreading  from  Lakes  to  Gulf  they  went  almost  wild  amid  the 
prodigality  of  nature,  The  outlaw  fled  here  as  to  a  safer  field 
for  crime,  the  bankrupt  came  to  get  a  fresh  start  far  from  his 
creditors,  the  young  and  adventurous  came  for  what  might  offer. 
In  combats  with  savage  beasts  and  still  more  savage  men,  then 
with  each  other,  they  developed  that  fierce  destructive  energy 
which  long  distinguished  the  South  and  West.  Close  behind 
them  came  the  pioneer  preachers,  men  of  the  James  Axel  and 
Peter  Cartwright  type,  unlearned  and  ardent,  narrow  but  in- 
tense; and  in  log  cabin  or  open  grove  painted  the  horrors  of 


AND    CRIMES    OF    MORMONISM. 

hell  and  the  delights  of  heaven  in  rude  eloquence  to  rude  con- 
gregations. The  lonely  life  of  the  pioneers  predisposed  them 
to  gloomy  reverie;  if  they  embraced  religion,  they  became 
fanatically  devout;  if  they  resisted  the  prevailing  spirit,  they 
plunged  only  the  deeper  into  desperate  wickedness.  If  a  young 
man  was  of  bold  and  ardent  temperament,  it  was  but  a  chance 
whether  he  would  turn  one  way  and  become  a  preacher  or  the 
other  and  become  a  horse-thief.  The  century  opened  with  the 
great  Cane  Ridge  Camp-Meeting,  in  upper  Kentucky,  where 
at  least  20,000  people  gathered  on  various  days,  a  dozen 
preachers  of  different  denominations  were  preaching,  praying 
or  exhorting  at  once,  and  people  fell  by  dozens  and  scores, 
struck  dumb,  and  with  agonizing  screams  for  mercy. 

Among  the  thousands  of  uneasy  spirits  and  wild-eyed 
visionaries,  half  impostor  and  half  fanatic,  was  one  Sidney 
Rigdon,  a  printer's  boy  of  Southwestern  Pennsylvania.  There 
and  in  the  adjacent  sections  of  Ohio  and  Virginia  was  the  central 
field  of  fanaticism  and  battle-ground  of  the  sects.  Into  all 
these  discussions  young  Rigdon  entered  with  keen  relish.  He 
was  a  born  controversialist,  gifted  above  his  tribe  with  fluency 
of  tongue,  of  most  insinuating  address  and  yet  intensely  in 
earnest  in  whatever  he  happened  to  believe  at  the  time;  with 
all  the  proof  texts  of  Scripture  at  command  and  full  of 
plausible  arguments.  Even  to  the  last  years  of  his  life,  when- 
ever he  heard  of  any  discussion  between  ministers,  his  eye 
would  brighten  with  its  early  fire  and  he  would  exclaim,  "Ah, 
if  I  were  young  again  how  easily  I  could  upset  all  the  arguing 
preachers  of  these  days."  For  a  while  he  roamed  from  con- 
gregation to  congregation,  disputing  with  all  who  would  join 
issue  with  him ;  then  united  himself  with  the  Baptists, 
apparently  because  they  were  just  then  hard  pressed  and  needed 
controversialists.  But  in  a  little  while  the  severe  simplicity  of 
that  sect  wearied  him ;  his  fancy  was  captivated  by  the  great 
movement  of  Stone,  Campbell  and  others,  and  he  eagerly 
sought  an  alliance  with  them.  For  a  while  he  called  himself  a 
follower  of  Campbell,  but  his  flighty  disposition  and  intriguing 
temper  illy  suited  with  the  pure  spirit  of  the  Reformers,  and 


26  POLYGAMY. 

his  family  professed  conversion ;  but  when  the  revival  ceased 
there  was  great  strife  among  the  ministers  of  various  denomina- 
tions as  to  who  should  secure  most  of  the  new  converts; 
Joseph's  soul  was  vexed,  and  he  began  to  have  serious  doubts. 
In  this  frame  of  mind  he  opened  the  Bible,  and  his  eye  fell  upon 
this  text:  "  If  any  of  you  lack  wisdom,  let  him  ask  of  God,  that 
giveth  to  all  men  liberally,  and  upbraideth  not." — James,  Chap. 
I.  v.  5.  He,  therefore,  retired  to  a  secluded  thicket  near  his 
father's  house,  and  knelt  in  prayer,  supplicating  the  Lord  to 
show  "  which  of  all  the  sects  was  really  right."  AVhile  pray- 
ing, the  entire  wood  was  illuminated  with  a  great  light,  he  was 
enveloped  in  the  midst  of  it  and  caught  away  in  a  heavenly 
vision,  he  saw  two  glorious  personages  and  was  told  that  his  sins 
were  forgiven.  He  learned  also  that  none  of  the  sects  was  quite 
right,  but  that  God  had  chosen  him  to  restore  the  true  priest- 
hood upon  earth.  Afterwards,  he  began  again  to  doubt,  and, 
being  quite  young,  fell  into  sin,  and  it  was  not  until  September 
23d,  1823,  that  God  again  heard  his  prayers,  and  sent  heavenly 
messengers  to  tell  him  his  sins  were  forgiven. 

His  account  of  this  novitiate  reads  like  a  feeble  parody  on 
the  biographies  of  John  Xewton,  John  Btinyan  and  other  vision- 
ists,  varied  by  a  short  imitation  of  the  childhood  of  Samuel  the 
prophet;  and  being  more  tedious  than  edifying  may  be  omitted. 
But  on  the  night  of  September  21st,  1823,  came  the  crowning 
vision,  in  which  the  principal  visitor  looked  and  talked  as 
follows: 

"  Not  only  was  his  robe  exceedingly  white,  but  his  whole  person 
was  glorious  beyond  description,  and  his  countenance  truly  like 
lightning.  The  room  was  exceedingly  light,  but  not  so  very  bright 
as  immediately  around  his  person.  When  I  first  looked  upon 
him  I  was  afraid,  but  the  fear  soon  left  me.  He  called  me  by 
name  and  said  unto  me  that  he  was  a  messenger  sent  from  the 
presence  of  God  to  me,  and  that  his  name  was  Nephi ;  that  God 
had  a  work  for  me  to  do,  and  that  my  name  should  be  heard  for 
good  and  evil  among  all  nations,  kindreds,  and  tongues  ;  or  that 
it  should  be  both  good  and  evil  spoken  of  among  all  people. 
He  said  there  wras  a  book  deposited,  written  upon  gold  plates^ 


*Mm 


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27 


'2$  POLYGAMY;   OB,   THE    MYSTERIES 

giving  an  account  of  the  former  inhabitants  of  this  continent  and 
the  source  from  whence  they  sprang.  He  also  said  that  the  ful- 
ness of  the  everlasting  gospel  was  contained  in  it,  as  delivered 
by  the  Saviour  to  the  ancient  inhabitants.  Also  that  there  were 
two  stones  in  silver  bows  (and  these  stones,  fastened  to  a  breast- 
plate, constituted  what  is  called  the  Urirn  and  Thummim)  de- 
posited with  the  plates,  and  the  possession  and  use  of  these 
stones  was  what  constituted  seers  in  ancient  or  former  times, 
and  that  God  had  prepared  them  for  the  purpose  of  translating 
the  book." 

Thenceforward  he  was  on  very  familiar  terms  with  such 
beings  as  angels,  spirits  and  devils;  but  can  only  relate  one  in- 
terview with  Jesus  Christ.  Being  at  work  among  the  neigh- 
boring farmers  meanwhile,  and  meeting  othen  lads  in  a  social 
way,  he  spoke  of  his  peculiar  privileges  quite  often,  and  became 
in  consequence  an  object  of  general  ridicule.  Finally,  on  the 
22d  of  September,  1826,  the  angel  conducted  him  to  the  Hill 
Cumorah — known  to  the  citizens  of  Manchester,  Ontario  county, 
New  York,  as  the  Big  Hill — and  there  the  chest  and  the  plates 
were  uncovered.  Later  revelations  add  that  there  was  a  mar- 
velous display  of  celestial  machinery,  devils  struggling  with 
angels  to  prevent  the  work ;  and  that  the  devils  were  captured 
and  compelled  to  file  in  procession  before  him  so  he  could  know 
them  thereafter.  To  this  day,  the  common  explanation  among 
the  Mormons  of  any  opposition  to  the  priesthood  is,  "  It's  the 
work  of  the  devil." 

The  plates  were  "  of  the  thickness  of  tin,  bound  together  like 
a  book,  fastened  at  one  side  by  three  rings  which  run  through 
the  whole,  forming  a  volume  about  six  inches  thick."  The 
record  was  engraved  on  the  plates  in  "  reformed  Egyptian " 
characters,  consisting  of  "the  language  of  the  Jews  and  the 
writing  of  the  Egyptians."  In  the  same  box  with  the  plates, 
were  found  two  stones,  "  transparent  and  clear  as  crystal,  the 
Urim  and  Thummim,  used  by  seers  in  ancient  times,  the  in- 
struments of  revelations  of  things  'distant,  past  and  future." 
When  the  news  of  this  discovery  spread  abroad,  "  the  Prophet 
was  the  sport  of  lies,  slanders  and  mobs,  and  vain  attempts  to 


AND   CRIMES    OF    MORMONiSM.  29 

rob  him  of  his  plates."  He  was  ere  long  supplied  with  wit- 
nesses. Oliver  Cowdery,  David  Whitmer,  and  Martin  Harris 
make  the  following  solemn  certificate: 

u  We  have  seen  the  plates  which  contain  the  records ;  they 
were  translated  by  the  gift  and  power  of  God,  for  His  voice 
hath  declared  it  unto  us,  wherefore  we  know  of  a  surety  that 
the  work  is  true ;  and  we  declare  with  words  of  soberness  that 
an  angel  of  God  came  down  from  heaven,  and  brought  and  laid 
before  our  eyes,  that  we  beheld  and  saw  the  plates  and  the  en- 
gravings thereon." 

The  testimony  of  these  three  is  prefixed  to  all  printed  copies 
of  the  "  Book  of  Mormon/'  for  such  is  the  name  now  given  to 
the  work.  Oliver  Cowdery  was  at  that  time  a  sort  of  wan- 
dering schoolmaster,  rather  noted  as  an  elegant  scribe.  He  as- 
sisted in  translating  the  inscriptions,  and  took  high  rank  in  the 
infant  church.  He  was  disciplined,  slightly,  at  Kirtland  for 
living  in  open  adultery  with  a  servant  girl,  and  was  expelled 
from  the  church  in  Missouri  on  a  charge  of  "  lying,  counter- 
feiting, and  immorality,"  after  which,  if  Hyrum  Smith  tells  the 
truth,  he  and  his  brother  Lyman  robbed  Hyrum's  house  while 
the  latter  was  in  jail.  Cowdery  died  in  Missouri,  many  years 
ago,  a  miserable  drunkard.  But  no  pressure  could  ever  make 
him  admit  that  his  testimony  was  false. 

David  Whitmer  behaved  much  better;  but  when  the  first 
whisperings  of  polygamy  and  Danitism  were  heard,  in  1835-7, 
he  rebelled  and  was  expelled,  settling  soon  after  in  Richmond, 
Ray  county,  Missouri.  For  many  years  he  maintained  strict 
reticence  about  the  plates ;  but  finally  admitted  to  a  neighbor 
that  he  did  see  an  angel  with  them,  viz. :  Mr.  John  Angell. 
Within  a  few  years  Mr.  Whitmer's  grandson  has  taken  high 
rank  among  the  Missouri  Mormons,  and  now  the  old  gentleman 
swears  his  original  testimony  was  true  in  every  respect,  adding, 
however,  that  Joseph  himself  fell  away  from  the  true  faith.  I 
visited  him  in  1878,  and  heard  the  whole  story  over  again  with 
new  and  amusing  variations. 

Such  was  the  story  told  and  retold  by  these  fanatics  relative 
to  the  "Book  of  Mormon." 


<  ft 


30 


AND   CRIMES   OF    MORMONTSM.  31 

The  real  origin  of  the  work,  however,  is  now  shown  by  un- 
impeachable testimony.  It  was  written  by  Solomon  Spaulding, 
a  superannuated  preacher,  who  intended  it  for  a  historical 
romance  after  the  style  of  "The  Fair  God"  and  "  Malmistic, 
the  last  of  the  Toltecs."  But  the  execution  of  his  design  was 
so  feeble  that  he  could  never  secure  a  publisher,  and  one  of*  the 
two  manuscript  copies  fell  into  the  hands  of  Smith  and  Cow- 
dery.  The  identity  is  proved  by  several  persons  who  had 
heard  Spauldfng  read  portions  of  the  original ;  but  they  all  add 
that  the  long  arguments  on  religion  were  not  in  the  Spaulding 
work.  These  were  doubtless  supplied  by  Smith  and  Cowdery, 
as  a  critic  can  easily  see  in  them  a  reflection  of  the  debates  on 
Universalism,  Anti-Masonry  and  baptism  prevalent  at  that 
time. 

The  book  attracted  much  attention,  and  while  the  many 
laughed  the  few  were  impressed ;  Smith  and  Cowdery  appear 
to  have  been  agreeably  surprised,  but  were  at  a  loss  what  doc- 
trine to  preach.  They  began  with  Anti-Masonry,  then  very 
popular,  but  soon  dropped  that  and  took  up  Millenarianism— 
that  the  last  days  were  at  hand.  This  proved  even  more  suc- 
cessful, for  the  country  was  full  of  disturbed  intellects,  the 
debris  of  the  religious  excitement  of  the  day,  and  the  Millena- 
rian  idea  at  all  times  has  a  strange  fascination  for  visionary 
minds.  Nor  is  it  confined  to  the  ignorant;  many  intelligent 
men  in  every  generation  become  impressed  with  the  idea  that 
"  in  our  day  the  world  has  become  so  corrupt,  that  God 
Almighty  is  going  to  make  a  great  change,"  and  in  spite  of  the 
plain  declarations  of  Scripture,  fanatics  will  wrest  the  mild 
precepts  of  the  gospel,  and  force  them  to  indicate  that  hell-fire 
and  destruction  are  impending  over  everybody  but  their  own 
particular  sect.  The  speculators  began  as  Millenarians,  and 
that  of  the  maddest  sort,  and  soon  the  queer  and  crazy,  the 
curious  and  the  fanatic,  even  from  a  distance,  flocked  to  hear 
the  new  gospel. 


PORTRAITS  OF  THE  ORIGINAL  MORMON  LEADERS. 
32 


AND   CHIMES   OF    MOKMONJSM.  33 


CHAPTER  II. 

ZION  IN   MISSOURI. 

The  Mormon  church  organized — Conversion  of  the  Pratts — Rapid  growth — 
Sidney  Rigdon's  disciples  come  in  en  masse — Kirtland  headquarters — Foun- 
dation of  Zion  in  Missouri — Threats  against  the  Gentiles — Gentile  resistance 
— War— Mormons  expelled  from  Jackson  county. 

TUESDAY,  April  6th,  1830,  the  "  Church  of  Christ"  was  or- 
ganized in  Seneca  county,  New  York,  in  the  house  of  Peter 
Whitmer,  township  of  Fayette.  Such  was  the  first  designation 
of  what  is  now  called  Mormonism  ;  even  the  name  of  Latter-day 
Saints  was  not  adopted  for  some  time  after.  The  six  original 
members  were:  Joseph  Smith,  Oliver  Cowdery,  Hyrurn  Smith, 
Peter  Whitmer,  Jr.,  Samuel  H.  Smith,  David  Whitmer.  The 
profane  might  have  called  it  the  church  of  Smith  and  Whitmer, 
though  they  varied  the  sameness  a  little  by  alternating  names 
and  adding  that  of  Cowdery ;  but  the  looks  of  the  list  would 
have  been  considerably  improved  by  the  addition  of  a  few 
Browns  and  Joneses.  Martin  Harris  had  already  lost  caste  by 
letting  his  wife  have  the  manuscript,  as  aforesaid,  and  does  not 
•ppear  with  the  Immortal  Six.  Of  these  two  were  murdered 
'n  jail,  Samuel  H.  Smith,  their  brother,  died  soon  after  of  ex- 
citement and  over-exertion,  two  apostatized  and  one  became 
an  anti-Brighamite.  Smith  and  Cowdery  laid  hands  on  and 
ordained  each  other,  and  the  six  entered  into  a  covenant  to 
serve  God  and  convert  the  world. 

The  next  Sunday  Oliver  Cowdery  preached  the  first  public 
sermon  on  the  new  faith ;  a  few  converts  came  in,  active 
preaching  followed,  and  before  the  month  expired  the  first 
miracle  was  performed — in  Colesville,  Broome  county,  New 
York.  Newell  Knight,  who  was  under  conviction,  was  seized 
and  possessed  by  a  devil,  and  in  the  presence  of  many  witnesses 
3 


34  POLYGAMY. 

was  lifted  from  the  floor  by  uiiseen  hands,  knocked  against  the 
ceiling  and  otherwise  diabolically  treated.  Joseph  commanded 
the  devil  to  depart,  which  it  did  at  once;  Newell  was  happily 
converted,  and  had  a  glorious  vision  of  angels.  He  lived 
and  died  a  faithful  Saint.  Newell  swears  to  all  this,  as  do 
many  other  Mormons;  so  it  requires  some  skepticism  to  doubt 
it.  Of  course  there  was  much  excitement,  and  a  few  conver- 
sions. Joseph,  in  1827,  had  married  Emma  Hale,  who  was 
now  declared  Elect  Lady  and  Daughter  of  God.  In  August, 
the  same  year,  Parley  P.  Pratt,  a  young  Christian  ("Camp- 
bellite")  preacher,  was  converted,  and  soon  after  his  brother 
Orson  ;  these  two  have  done  more  than  any  others  to  make  the 
new  church  respectable.  Parley  at  once  proceeded  to  Ohio  and 
converted  Sidney  Rigdon,  who  took  almost  his  entire  congrega- 
tion with  him;  and  now  the  new  church  had  solid  materials  to 
build  with.  In  December  Rigdon  came  on  a  visit  to  the 
Smiths,  and  with  his  aid  the  crude  doctrines  so  far  announced 
were  licked  into  shape.  The  "  First  Principles  of  the  Gospel," 
so  called,  were  adopted  almost  literally  from  the  tenets  of  Alex- 
ander Campbell ;  to  these  they  added  laying  on  of  hands  for  the 
gift  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  a  Millenarian  creed,  and  the  revival  of 
the  gifts  of  prophecy  and  healing.  This  constituted  substan- 
tially the  creed  of  the  church  till  polygamy  was  introduced  ; 
Brigham  Young  has  since  added  the  Adam-God  theory,  Parley 
and  Orson  Pratt  the  god-development  and  other  idea*,  and 
various  other  tenets  have  grown  on  or  been  added  as  occasion 
offered.  Early  in  1831  Smith  and  Rigdon  proceeded  to  Ohio, 
preaching  by  the  way,  gathering  up  the  loose  materials  of  dying 
iftmsj  and  gaining  many  converts.  And  here  it  is  proper  to 
note  the  curious  fact  that  all,  or  nearly  all,  Mormon  converts 
were  already  members  of  some  Christian  church.  I  have  never 
yet  heard  of  any  infidel  being  converted  direct  to  Mormonism. 
and  very  rarely  of  any  believer  not  already  a  professor.  In 
short,  the  Mormon  church  is  made  up  of  apostates. 

A  good-sized  church  was  soon  organized  at  Kirtland,  Ohio, 
whither  all  the  New  York  converts  gathered;  on  the  6th  of 
June,  the  Melchisedek,  or  Superior  Priesthood,  was  first  con- 


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MORMON  ALPHABET.       INVENTED  BY  ORSON  PRATT  AND 
W.  W.  PHELPS  TO  BE   USED   IN   MORMON  LITERATURE. 

(35) 


36  POLYGAMY;    OR,    THE    MYSTERIES 

t'rrred  upon  the  elders,  ami  soon  after  Jot-  Smith  had  a  revela- 
tion that  the  final  gathering  place  of  the  Saints  was  to  be  in 
Missouri.  He  set  out  the  same  month  with  a  few  elders,  and 
in  the  middle  of  July,  reached  Jackson  county,  Missouri,  where 
another  revelation  was  granted  that  this  was  "Zion  which 
should  never  be  "moved,"  and  the  whole  land  was  solemnly 
dedicated  to  the  Lord  and  His  Saints.  They  began  at  once  to 
build,  and  laid  the  first  log  in  Kaw  township,  twelve  miles 
west  of  Independence.  Another  revelation,  of  August  *2d, 
fixed  the  site  of  the  Great  Temple  three  hundred  yards  we>i 
of  the  Court-House  in  Independence,  which  spot  was  accord- 
ingly dedicated  by  religious  exercises,  which  were  followed  by 
a  great  accession  of  gifts.  On  the  4th  of  August  another  large 
party  arrived  from  Kirtland,  a  General  Conference  was  held  in 
the  land  of  Zion,  and  another  revelation  vouchsafed  to  Joseph, 
lhat  the  whole  land  should  be  theirs,  and  should  not  be 
obtained  ubut  by  purclifisc  or  Inj  M(,"d." 

I  u  the  year  1831  Joseph  Smith  received  thirty-seven  full 
and  explicit  revelation-.  U  -i.lt>-  a  vast  number  of  minor  direc- 
tions about  buying,  selling,  planting,  building  and  organizing. 
He  also  preached  and  organized  societies  in  three  States, 
r.Mablished  the  ecclesiastical  government  of  the  church,  had 
a  mill  erected  for  the  Saints,  opened  a  store  and  established  a 
bank. 

The  last  was  what  Western  men  then  called  a  wild-cat  bank — 
that  is,  it  had  no  charter  and  deposited  no  bonds  for  security ; 
but  as  several  wealthy  men  had  joined  the  church,  its  credit  wa< 
good  and  the  notes  circulated  freely.  Early  in  1832  Brigham 
Young  was  converted,  and  hastened  to  Kirtland.  For  the 
next  few  years  there  was  a  constant  ebb  and  flow  between 
Kirtland  and  Missouri,  the  elders  traveling  back  and  forward 
in  pairs  preaching  by  the  way;  the  more  solid  and  reliable 
business  men  remaining  at  Kirtland,  the  more  fanatical,  daring 
and  unscrupulous  going  to  Zion.  The  Missouri  Gentiles  said 
that  each  new  lot  was  apparently  poorer  and  more  unpromising 
than  their  predecessors;  but  land  was  cheap,  the  country 
wanted  immigration  and  all  went  well — for  «  irhile.  The 


AND   CRIMES   OF    MORMON  ISM.  37 

Kirtland  society  now  assumed  a  communistic  type,  and  we 
must  leave  it  for  a  time  to  trace  developments  in  Missouri. 

In  1832,  April,  Smith  came  again  to  Independence  and 
established  the  Evening  and  Morning  Star,  with  W.  W.  Phelps 
as  editor,  who  had  the  express  promise  from  Smith  that  he 
should  not  die  before  Christ's  second  coming.  Early  in  1833 
the  Mormons  numbered  1,500  in  Jackson  county,  Missouri. 
They  had  taken  virtual  possession  of  all  the  county  west  of 
'Independence,  and  had  a  majority  in  the  town;  and  their 
actions  showed  that  the  fanatical  fury  of  1820-'30  had  left  a 
precipitate  of  its  worst  materials  in  the  new  church.  As  they 
gathered  in  haste  and  poverty,  and  were  supposed  to  preach 
as  they  went  without  purse  or  scrip,  Joseph  favored  them, 
in  September,  1831,  with  the  following  remarkable  revelation, 
which  is  printed  by  the  Mormons  in  their  Book  of  Doctrines 
and  Covenants: 

"Behold  it  is  said  in  my  laws  or  forbidden  to  get  in  debt  to 
thine  enemies;  but  behold  it  is  not  said  at  any  time  that  the 
Lord  should  not  take  u-licn  lie  please- and  p<iy  as  sceincth  him 
good:  Wherefore  as  ye  are  agents  and  ye  are  on  the  Zoyv/'x 
errand;  and  whatever  ye  do  according  to  the  will  of  the  Lord  /* 
the  Lord's  business,  and  he  hath  set  you  to  provide  for  his  Saint* 
in  these  last  days  that  they  may  obtain  an  inheritance  in  the 
Land  of  Zion,  etc" — [Doc.  and  Cov.,  page  157:  4th  European 
Edition.] 

There  is  an  over-abundance  of  Missouri  testimony  that  this 
part  of  the  "Lord's  business"  was  diligently  attended  to.  One 
old  citizen  there  informed  me  he  knew  many  cases  where  prop- 
erty was  openly  taken  on  this  plea;  and  a  Mr.  Elliott  says  the 
needy  Saints  in  more  than  one  instance  would  enter  an  old 
settler's  fields,  drive  away  an  ox  and  when  expostulated  with 
cite  a  New  Testament  precedent  and  quote:  "The  Lord  hath 
need  of  him."  There  were  oth.er  causes  sufficient  for  trouble. 
The  Mormons  loudly  proclaimed  that  the  Lord  had  given 
them  the  whole  land;  that  bloody  wars  would  extirpate  all 
other  sects  from  the  country;  that  "it  would  be  one  gore  of 
blood  from  the  Mississippi  to  the  border,"  and  that  the  few 


38  POLYGAMY 

who  survived  would  be  servants  to  the  Saints,  who  would  own 
all  the  property  in  the  countrv.  As  their  numbers  increased, 
arrogance  and  spiritual  pride  took  possession  of  them;  they 
proclaimed  themselves  "Kings  and  Priests  of  the  Most  High 
God,"  and  regarded  all  others  as  reprobates,  destined  to  a 
speedy  destruction.  In  conversation  with  the  Missourians, 
they  never  wearied  of  declaring  that  all  the  churches  estab- 
lished by  the  latter  were  "alike  the  creation  of  the  devil,"  that 
they  were  under  the  curse  of  God  and  all  their  members 
doomed,  castaway  Gentiles,  worse  than  heathen  and  unworthy 
of  longer  life.  They  proclaimed  through  the  country  that  it 
\\as  useless  folly  for  Gentiles  to  open  farms,  the  Lord  would 
never  allow  them  to  enjoy  the  fruits  of  their  labor;  they  noti- 
fied the  workmen  upon  new  buildings  that  they  could  never 
hope  to  be  paid  therefor,  and  generally  proclaimed  that  in  a 
very  few  months  the  Gentiles  would  have  neither  name  nor 
place  in  Missouri. 

The  simple-minded  Missourians  listened  with  a  vague  won- 
der to  their  first  predictions,  then  smiled  at  their  confident 
boastings  of  superior  purity  and  holiness;  but  soon  their  in- 
creasing numbers  and  arrogance  awakened  serious  fears  of  the 
future.  The  Missourians,  unaccustomed  to  the  language  of 
hyperbole  in  prophecy,  interpreted  their  predictions  to  mean 
that  the  Saints  themselves  would  be  the  ministers  of  God's 
vengeance  on  the  unbelievers,  and  the  public  mind  was  greatly 
inflamed.  In  April,  1833,  a  number  of  Missourians  came 
together  in  Independence,  and  decided  that  means  of  defence 
ought  to  be  taken,  but  determined  upon  nothing.  The  first 
June  number  of  the  Morning  and  Evening  Star  contained  an 
intemperate  article,  headed,  "Free  People  of  Color,"  which 
excited  the  wrath  of  the  old  citizens  against  the  Mormons,  as 
"abolitionists,"  and  was  answered  by  a  small  pamphlet,  headed, 
"Beware  of  False  Prophets."  As  summer  advanced,  it  ap- 
peared that  the  Mormons  could  carry  the  county  at  the  August 
election,  and  this  roused  all  the  fears  of  the  old  settlers  afresh. 
Without  apparent  concert,  an  armed  mob  of  three  hundred 
assembled  at  Independence,  tore  down  tiit  newspaper  office, 


AND   CRIMES   OF    MORMONISM.  39 

tarred  and  feathered  several  of  the  Saints,  whipped  two  of 
them  a  little  and  ordered  all  to  leave  the  county.  Oliver 
Cowdery  was  started  to  Kirtland  to  consult  with  Joe  Smith; 
but,  during  his  absence,  the  Saints  agreed  with  the  citizens  to 
leave  Jackson  county.  On  the  8th  of  October,  W.  \V.  Phelps 
and  Orson  Hyde  presented  a  memorial  to  Governor  Dunkiin, 
of  Missouri,  praying  for  redress,  to  which  that  official  made 
answer,  that  they  uhad  a  right  to  the  protection  of  the  law,  if 
they  chose  to  stay  in  Jackson."  Emboldened  by  this,  they 
refused  to  leave  according  to  agreement,  and  the  mob  again 
assembled,  burnt  ten  Mormon  houses  and  committed  other 
outrages.  The  Mormons  armed  and  killed  two  of  the  mob — 
this  sealed  their  fate.  The  whole  body  of  citizens  rose,  and  in 
November  drove  the  Mormons  out  and  across  the  river  at  the 
muzzle  of  the  gun.  Two  hundred  houses  were  burned,  much 
property  destroyed  and  terrible  suffering  inflicted.  The  Mor- 
mons halted  in  Clay  county,  north  of  the  river,  and  for  the 
next  year  there  was  chronic  hostility  between  the  two  counties, 

In  Liberty,  Clay  county,  the  Mormons  revived  their  paper 
under  the  name  of  Missouri  Enquirer.  They  then  made  an 
attempt  to  settle  in  Van  Buren  (now  Cass)  county,  but  were 
warned  out  by  the  old  settlers.  When  this  news  reached  him 
Joseph  sounded  the  tocsin  of  war  and  called  for  volunteers  to 
redeem  Zion.  February,  1834,  he  received  a  voluminous  rev- 
elation directing  the  campaign,  and  promising  in  explicit  terms 
that  the  Lord  would  give  victory  to  the  brethren. 

The  whole  revelation  reads  like  a  vulgar  parody  on  the 
Hebrew  prophecies ;  but  in  view  of  the  outcome  the  following 
passage  is  deliciously  suggestive: 

"  Behold  I  say  unto  you  the  redemption  of  Zion  must  needs 
come  by  power,  therefore  I  will  raise  up  unto  my  people  a  man 
who  shall  lead  them  like  as  Moses  led  the  children  of  Israel, 
for  ye  are  the  children  of  Israel  and  of  the  seed  of  Abraham, 
and  ye  must  needs  be  led  out  of  bondage,  by  power,  and  with 
a  stretched -out  arm,  and  as  your  fathers  were  led  at  the  first, 
even  so  shall  the  redemption  of  Zion  be.  Therefore  let  not 
your  hearts  faint,  for  I  say  not  unto  you  as  I  said  unto  your 


40  POLYGAMY  ;    OR,   THE    MYSTERIES 

fathers,  mine  angel  shall  go  up  before  you,  but  not  my  pres- 
ence; But  I  say  unto  you,  mine  angels  shall  go  before  you,  and 
also  my  presence,  and  in  time  ye  shall  possess  the  goodly  land." 

The  Mormons  now  say  this  meant  that  the  Lord  would 
give  them  Jackson  county  some  day,  just  as  some  Christian  sects 
take  prophecies  of  local  and  temporary  application  to  the  Jews 
and  force  them  to  fit  great  events  in  the  history  of  modern 
nations.  The  trouble  with  the  Mormons  is,  their  prophecies  are 
so  much  more  specific  as  to  time  and  place  than  those  in  the 
Old  Testament. 

May  7th,  1834,  the  "Lord's  army"  started  from  Kirtland, 
130  strong.  In  it  were  Brigham  Young,  Heber  C.  Kimball, 
both  the  Pratts,  and  many  others  since  noted  in  the  church. 
Before  starting  they  adopted  the  title  for  the  church  of  Latter- 
Day  Saints,  and  whenever  questioned  on  the  way  denied  being 
Mormons,  not  recognizing  that  as  the  true  title  of  the  brethren. 
They  reached  Missouri  the  latter  part  of  June,  but  while  near 
the  Mississippi  the  cholera,  then  but  just  known  in  America, 
broke  out  in  their  camp,  and  in  a  few  days  twenty  of  the  com- 
pany died.  Joe  preached,  prayed,  and  prophesied  in  vain ;  his 
followers  were  panic-stricken  at  the  horrible  disease.  He  first 
attempted  to  cure  it  "  by  laying  on  of  hands,"  but  desisted  with 
the  remark  that  "  when  the  Lord  would  destroy,  it  was  vain  for 
man  to  attempt  to  stay  His  hand."  An  armed  force  wjiich  had 
meanwhile  gathered  in  Jackson  county,  in  anticipation  of  his 
coming,  was  scattered  by  a  violent  storm,  and  in  a  few  days, "the 
cholera  having  spent  its  force,  the  company  reached  Liberty. 
There  was  nothing  to  be  done,  however,  and  the  expedition  dis- 
solved, Joseph  returning  to  Kirtland.  But  to  this  day  the 
descendants  of  "  Zion's  Camp  "  meet  annually  in  Salt  Lake  City, 
relate  with  great  gusto  the  achievements  on  that  trip,  and  also 
testify  with  extreme  fervor  how  the  people  were  blessed.  No 
logic  could  convince  one  of  them  that  the  prophecy  failed. 
Joseph,  before  returning,  left  this  little  contribution  to  the  Mis- 
souri war  in  the  form  of  a  revelation  : 

u  Buy  up  all  the  lands  in  Jackson  county  that  can  be  pur- 
chased, and  in  the  adjoining  counties,  .  .  .  and  after  these  lands 


AND   CRIMES   OF   MORMONISM.  41 

are  purchased,  I  will  hold  the  armies  of  Israel  guiltless  in 
taking  possession  of  their  own  lands,  which  they  have  pre- 
viously purchased  with  their  o\vn  monies,  and  of  throwing  down 
the  towers  of  mine  enemies  that  may  be  upon  them,  and  scattering 
their  watchmen,  and  avenging  me  of  mine  enemies,  unto  the  third 
and  fourth  generation  of  them  that  hate  me." 

The  new  church  had,  in  the  natural  order  of  such  growths, 
reached  the  second  stage,  and  the  spirit  of  Christ  was  now  to 
give  place  to  the  spirit  of  Moses  and  Joshua,  and  the  impreca- 
tory psalms. 

This  is  a  change  which  the  student  of  abnormal  religious 
development  always  looks  for  soon  or  late.  All  sects  have- 
started  with  pleas  for  the  broadest  toleration  :  nearly  all  sects 
have  persecuted  when  they  obtained  the  power.  Jesus  Christ 
strictly  forbade  his  followers  to  shed  human  blood :  one  million 
men  have  lost  their  lives  in  war  for  his  burial  place,  and  two 
millions  have  died  bloody  deaths  to  prove  that  he  was  the  Son 
of  God  and  the  Prince  of  Peace.  Our  non-religious  constitu- 
tion forbids  all  civil  authority  to  a  church,  but  this  is  far  from 
enough  :  politicians  must  watch  and  resist  every  attempt  at  en- 
croachment; voters  must  watch  every  politician  liable  to  be 
swayed  in  the  matter,  and  all  classes  of  free  men  must  maintain 
that  eternal  vigilance  which  is  the  price  of  liberty. 

As  soon  as  their  blood  cooled  the  Jackson  county  men  were 
ashamed  of  their  cruelty,  and  sent  a  written  proposition  to  the 
Mormons  that  arbitrators  should  be  appointed  to  assess  the 
value  of  the  Mormons'  property  in  Jackson  :  that  they  would 
then  pay  the  Mormons  double  that  amaunt  for  fee-simple  deeds 
and  surrender  of  all  claims.  "The  Lord,"  however,  forbade 
the  Mormons  to  sell  the  land  of  Zion  ;  and  to  this  day  they 
hold  the  title  deeds  to  much  real  estate  in  Jackson.  Of  course 
the  legal  title  has  long  since  lapsed  and  passed  to  other  parties, 
but  a  small  congregation  of  Twelvite  Mormons,  or  Gatherers, 
now  own  Temple  block  and  adjacent  lots.  After  this  refusal 
the  Clay  county  people  notified  the  Mormons  that  they  must 
not  use  Clay  as  a  base  of  operations  against  Jackson,  and  soon 
after  "  requested  "  the  brethren  to  leave.  They  went,  this  time 


42  POLYGAMY  ;    OK,  THE  MYSTERIES 

without  bloodshed,  into  Carroll,  Davk-ss  and  Caldwell  counties, 
then  very  sparsely  settled,  and  prospered  greatly  for  ahout  two 
wars.  Tlicv  built  a  large  town  at  Far  West  in  a  few  weeks, 
and  improved  the  country  very  much.  Prosperity  soon  pro- 
duced its  natural  fruits :  arrogance,  spiritual  pride  and  a  desire 
to  lord  it  over  the  Gentiles.  William  E.  McLellin,  then  a 
Mormon,  now  a  resident  of  Independence,  tells  me  that  when 
he  first  began  to  doubt  he  begged  the  brethren  to  be  more  cau- 
tious, not  to  provoke  their  neighbors;  but  they  laughed  at  him, 
and  predicted  speedy  triumph.  About  this  time  also  polygamy 
began  to  be  talked  of  among  the  Saints ;  there  was  a  great  deal 
of  immorality,  and  counterfeit  money  put  in  circulation  by 
somebody.  Still,  the  Saints  might  have  held  their  own  if  the 
Kirtland  community  had  not  broken  up  and  sent  them  its  worst 
materials.  Of  this  a  short  account  is  now  in  order. 


AND   OiUMES   OF   MORMONISM. 


CHAPTER    III. 

KIRTLAND   COMMUNISM   AND   MISSOURI   WAR. 

Gathering  of  the  deluded — Thorough  organization  of  the  new  church— -MiU, 
store  and  bank  established — Communism  inaugurated — The  great  explosion 
— Smith  and  Rigdon  flee  to  Missouri — War  breaks  out — Horrible  atrocities 
on  both  sides — Governor  Boggs'  "exterminating  order" — Hawn's  mill 
massacre — Mormons  driven  from  the  State. 

THE  fierce  warfare  of  the  sects  had  left  in  Ohio  a  class  of 
disturbed  and  heated  minds;  the  debates  of  untaught  polemics, 
accustomed  to  kill  the  spirit  in  wresting  the  letter  of  Scripture 
had  prepared  them  for  any  delusion  which  could  be  supported 
by  an  array  of  isolated  texts,  and  the  popular  methods  in  vogue 
had  excited  without  educating  the  masses.  It  is  not  very 
strange,  therefore,  that  men  of  some  standing  adhered  to  Kirt- 
land  Mormonism  and  surrendered  their  judgment  to  that  of  the 
Prophet,  alike  in  business,  religion  and  social  tenets.  Joseph 
was  accustomed  to  say  at  that  time  that  there  were  three  classes 
of  poor:  "the  Lord's  poor,  the  devil's  poor  and  the  poor  devils; 
and  they  must  all  be  taken  care  of."  So  the  notes  of  the  bank 
were  paid  in  wages  to  the  workmen  on  the  temple,  the  goods 
from  the  store  sold  to  the  poor  on  credit,  and  the  cash  of  such 
brethren  as  had  any  was  consecrated  to  the  Lord  by  revelation. 
Whether  the  new  convert  had  one  dollar  or  a  thousand,  it  all 
went  into  the  same  pot,  and  he  who  brought  much  fared  in  the 
distribution  as  he  who  brought  little.  The  explosion  could  not 
be  long  deferred. 

The  temple  was  completed  and  dedicated  March  27th,  1836 
— its  estimated  cost,  $40,000.  A  quorum  of  twelve  apostles 
was  then  organized,  among  them  Brigham  Young  and  Heber 
C.  Kim  ball.  The  former  received  the  "gift  of  tongues,"  and 
was  sent  on  a  mission  to  the  Eastern  States,  and  in  May,  1835, 
all  the  twelve  left  Kirtland  on  general  missions.  The  ensuing 


44 


POLYGAMY;    OR,    THE    MYSTERIES 


August  there  was  a  General  Assembly  at  Kirtlancl,  in  which 
the  "Book  of  Doctrine  and  Covenants,"  and  the  "Lectures  on 
Faith,"  by  Sidney  Rigdon,  were  adopted  as  the  rule  of  faith. 
About  this  time  a  learned  Jew,  formerly  Professor  of  Oriental 
tongues  in  Xe\v  Y«»rk,  was  connected  with  the  Mormons,  and 
on  the  4th  of  January,  1836,  a  Hebrew  professorship  was  es- 
tablished at  Kirtland,  Joseph  Smith  and  several  other  leading 
Mormons  entering  upon  the  study.  In  June,  1837,  the  first 
organized  foreign  mission  was  sent  to  England,  consisting  of  H. 
C.  Kimball,  Orson  Hyde  and  W.  Richards.  On  the  30th  of 


MORMON   TEMPLE  AT   KIRTLAND,  OHIO. 

July  following,  they  baptized  the  first  converts  there,  in  the 
river  Ribble,  and  the  first  confirmation  of  members  was  at 
Walkerford,  August  4th.  The  first  Conference  of  English 
Mormons  was  held  in  the  cock-pit  at  Preston,  the  25th  of  the 
following  December. 

Prosperity  had  greatly  changed  the  Prophet.  He  became 
dictatorial,  and  lived  in  a  style  of  vulgar  luxury.  Mrs.  Emma 
Smith  moved  about  their  home,  silent  and  serious,  with  a  young 
Joseph  in  her  arms,  giving  no  hint  as  to  her  views  of  what  was 
going  on  ;  and  to  this  day  it  is  a  disputed  point  whether  she 
does  or  ever  did  believe  in  the  Prophet's  visions.  But  in  the 


AND   CRIMES   OF    MORMONISM. 


45 


family  was  a  young  lady  visitor  whose  whole  soul  was  wrapped 
up  in  the  Prophet;  his  life  was  anything  but  edifying;  scandal 
grew,  and  a  large  party  of  his  chief  men  rebelled  and  pro- 
nounced him  a  "  Fallen  Prophet."  National  events  also  were 
working  towards  a  catastrophe.  President  Jackson  had  broken 
down  the  great  bank,  and  a  host  of  little  ones  had  taken  its 
place — their  bills  derisively  known  in  the  West  as  "  red  dog/' 
"steel  plow,"  "sick  Indian,"  "smooth  monkey,"  "  blue  pup," 


TAKKING   AND    FKATH  KR1NU    JOK   SMITH,  AT    KIKTLAND,   OHIO. 

etc.,  according  to  the  color  and  engraving.  Speculation  ran 
riot  for  a  few  months,  then  came  the  inevitable  crash.  A  wave 
of  bankruptcy  swept  over  the  country,  and  away  went  the  "red 
dog"  and  "blue  pup,"  the  "sick  Indian"  and  "smooth  mon- 
key," not  worth  a  cent  to  the  dollar  !  Kirtland  Safety  Society 
money  failed  among  the  first.  Claims  from  all  directions 
pressed,  the  institution  fell  into  bankruptcy,  and  prophets  and 
apostles  fled  from  the  wrath  of  a  swindled  people. 


46  POLYGAMY;     OR,    THE    MYSTERIES 

Smith  and  Rigdon  had  previously  been  tarred  and  feathered 
oy  a  mob  on  the  charge  of  swindling;  now  they  had  to  fly  to 
avoid  legal  imprisonment.  It  is  amusing  to  note  how  differ- 
ently the  same  proceeding  looks  to  pursuer  and  pursued;  we 
will  only  refer  to  the  savage  denunciations  by  swindled  mer- 
chants and  bankers,  but  here  is  what  Joseph  says  of  it  in  his 
autobiography: 

"A  new  year  dawned  upon  the  Church  at  Kirtland  in  all  the 
bitterness  of  the  spirit  of  Apostate  Mobocracy,  which  continued 
to  rage  and  grow  hotter  and  hotter,  until  Elder  Rigdon  and 
myself  were  obliged  to  flee  from  its  deadly  influence,  as  did  the 
apostles  and  prophets  of  old,  and  as  Jesus  said,  '  When  they 
persecute  you  in  one  city,  flee  ye  to  another ; '  and  on  the  even- 
ing of  the  12th  of  January,  about  10  o'clock,  we  left  Kirtland 
on  horseback,  to  escape  mob  violence  which  was  about  to  burst 
upon  us,  under  the  color  of  legal  process  to  cover  their  hellish 
designs,  and  save  themselves  from  the  just  judgment  of  the  law. 
The  weather  was  extremely  cold,  and  we  were  obliged  to  secrete 
ourselves  sometimes  to  elude  the  grasp  of  our  pursuers,  who 
continued  their  race  more  than  two  hundred  miles  from  Kirt- 
land, armed  with  pistols,  etc.,  seeking  our  liv- •-." 

All  the  faithful  Kirtland  Saints  soon  followed,  and  tem- 
ple and  "stake"  were  abandoned  to  the  Gentiles.  Thirty- 
nine  years  afterwards  I  visited  the  locality  in  company  with  the 
late  President  Garfield,  whose  residence  was  near  by.  A  few 
of  the  old  Rigdonite-Disciple-Mormons  still  lingered  around, 
good  farmers  and  reliable  citizens,  but  with  that  far-away  look 
in  the  eye  which  indicates  the  thrice-deceived  visionary.  The 
great  temple,  after  being  used  as  a  pork  house  and  wheat  ware- 
house, had  lately  been  bought  and  refitted  by  the  Joseph ite 
Mormons,  and  was  in  charge  of  a  family  of  that  faith  living 
near.  A  youthful  priest  conducted  us  through  it  and  explained 
the  emblems,  at  a  charge  of  fifteen  cents  a  head  !  Sic  transit. 

March  12th,  1838,  Smith  and  Rigdon  appeared  among  the 
Saints  in  Far  West,  where  some  regulating  presence  was 
badly  needed  indeed.  There  were  young  women  with  "re- 
sponsibilities," but  without  marital  claims;  apostates  spreading 


AND    CRIMES    OK    MORMON  ISM.  47 

terrible  stories  around  the  country,  and  worse  than  all,  the 
loose-footed  raseals  from  all  over  the  country  were  crowding 
into  the  church  as  a  convenient  cover  for  crime  and  profligacy. 
Vigorous  measures  were  adopted.  Oliver  Cowdery  and  David 
Whitmer,  "witnesses,"  were  expelled  from  the  church,  along 
with  many  others;  apostacy  increased,  and  even  William  Smith, 
brother  of  the  Prophet,  escaped  expulsion  by  a  very  narrow 
vote.  Charge:  "Immorality."  Joseph  then  located  a  new 
gathering  place  at  Adam-Ondi-Ahman,  meaning,  according  to 
a  revelation  then  and  there  received,  the  "Valley  of  God  in 
which  Adam  blessed  his  children."  This  proceeding  took 
place  just  before  Adam's  death,  when  his  posterity  amounted 
to  thousands;  and,  contrary  to  common  belief,  it  was  in  the 
New  World,  Eden  was  in  Jackson  county  and  Adam's  Valley 
in  the  northern  section.  That  State  is  singularly  indifferent  to 
its  great  honors. 

July  4th,  1838,  the  Saints  had  a  grand  rally  and  declared 
their  independence.  Sidney  Rigdon  delivered  an  oration  com- 
monly called  the  "salt  sermon,"  in  which  he  compared  apos- 
tates to  salt  which  had  lost  its  savor,  and  was  to  be  trodden 
under  foot  of  the  Saints.  He  announced  that  the  brethren  in 
Far  West  would  submit  to  no  writs  from  other  places,  and  de- 
clared war  against  all  their  enemies  in  this  inflammatory  lan- 
guage : 

"We  take  God  and  all  the  holy  angels  to  witness  this  day 
that  we  warn  all  men  in  the  name  of  Jesus  Christ,  to  come  on 
us  no  more  forever.  The  man,  or  the  set  of  men,  who  attempts 
it  does  so  at  the  expense  of  their  lives.  And  the  mob  that 
comes  on  us  to  disturb  us,  it  shall  be  between  us  and  them  a 
war  of  extermination,  for  we  will  follow  them  till  the  hid  drop 
of  blood  is  spilled,  or  else  they  will  have  to  exterminate  us;  for 
we  will  carry  the  seat  of  war  to  their  own  houses  and  their  own 
families,  and  one  part  or  the  other  shall  be  utterly  destroyed. 
Remember  it,  then,  all  men  !  .  ,  ,  No  man  shall  be  at  liberty 
to  come  into  our  streets,  to  threaten  us  with  mobs,  for  if  he 
does  he  shall  atone  for  it  before  he  leaves  the  place,  neither 
shall  he  be  at  liberty  to  vilify  and  slander  any  of  us,  for  suffer 


48  POLYGAMY;     OR,    THE    MYSTERIES 

it  we  will  not  in  this  place.  We  therefore  take  all  men  if. 
record  this  clay.  a>  did  our  fathers,  and  we  pledge  this  day  to 
one  another,  our  fortunes,  our  lives,  and  our  sacred  honors,  to 
be  delivered  from  the  persecutions  which  we  have  had  to  endure 
for  the  last  nine  years,  or  nearly  that.  Neither  will  we  indulge 
any  man  or  set  of  men  in  instituting  vexatious  law-suits  against 
us,  to  cheat  us  out  of  our  just  rights  ;  if  they  attempt  it,  we  say 
iroe  be  unto  them.  We  this  day,  then,  proclaim  ourselves  freef 
with  a  purpose  and  a  determination  that  can  never  be  broken. 
N'o.  never !  No,  never ! !  No,  never  ! ! ! ' ' 

August  6th  the  regular  elections  came  on,  the  Mormons 
voting  solidly  as  usual,  and  electing  their  own  men  to  the  im- 
portant offices.  In  the  town  of  Gallatin,  Daviess  county,  Dick 
Welding,  a  Missourian,  reproached  Sam  Brown,  a  young  Mor- 
mon, with  the  fact  that  the  Mormons  voted  at  command  of 
Joe  Smith ;  Brown  answered  that  it  was  a  lie,  and  Welding 
promptly  felled  him  to  the  ground.  Both  sides  rushed  into  the 
fray,  a  desperate  battle  ensued,  in  which  the  Missourians  were 
worsted,  many  being  badly  wounded,  of  whom  two  died.  Civil 
war  was  now  begun,  and  all  over  the  country  non-Mormons 
rushed  together  to  concert  measures  of  safety.  The  Prophet 
hastened  to  the  battle-ground,  and  called  on  Justice  Adam 
Black  to  preserve  the  peace.  The  Justice  soon  after  made  affi- 
davit that  154  armed  Mormons  surrounded  his  house  and 
threatened  him  with  death  if  he  did  not  sign  a  paper  agreeing 
to  issue  no  warrants  against  the  Saints;  and  the  Prophet  issued 
an  order  to  that  effect  to  Mormon  justices.  As  soon  as  intelli- 
gence of  these  events  reached  Governor  Boggs,  he  directed 
Major-General  D.  R.  Atchison  to  call  out  400  mounted  militia 
to  preserve  the  peace.  Smith  immediately  employed  General 
Atchison  and  his  partner  as  his  attorneys,  and  by  their  advice 
volunteered  to  appear  before  Judge  Austin  King,  who  held  him 
and  Lyman  Wight  to  bail  at  $500  each.  Joseph  was  so  de- 
lighted at  this  that  he  immediately  articled  himself  as  a  law 
student  with  Atchison  and  Doniphan,  and  announced  his  inten- 
tion to  begin  practicing  law ! 

Two  peculiar  currents  now  set  in  opposite  directions:  one 


AND   CRIMES   OF    MORMOXISM.  49 

of  apostates  fleeing  from  Mormon  towns,  telling  horrible  stories 
of  what  they  had  seen  and  suffered ;  another  of  scattered  Mor- 
mons from  Gentile  territory  fleeing  into  Far  West  with  heart- 
rending stories  of  whipping,  burning  and  robbery.  The  Mor- 
mons averred  that  every  petty  crime  in  ten  counties  was 
imputed  to  the  Saints,  and  always  falsely ;  that  every  thief  and 
coiner  in  the  country  was  adding  to  the  hue  and  cry  to  shield 
himself;  that  every  man  who  ran  away  by  night  was  counted 
as  murdered  by  the  Saints,  and  that  persecutors  had  put  their 
own  horses  in  Mormon  stables,  or  their  own  meat  in  Mormon 
smoke-house.s,  to  make  evidence  against  the  brethren.  The 
Gentiles,  on  the  other  hand,  charged  that  as  long  as  a  man  was 
true  to  the  Mormons  no  evidence  could  make  them  believe  any- 
thing against  him  ;  that  as  a  consequence  all  the  thieves  in  the 
district  had  turned  Mormon,  adding  to  the  original  priestly 
rascals;  that  no  Mormon  official  would  issue  or  execute  a  writ 
against  a  Mormon,  and  when  issued  by  any  other  the  accused 
was  either  rescued  by  his  friends,  or  his  confederates  swore  him 
clear?  "  What  hope  for  justice,"  they  indignantly  asked,  "have 
we  in  courts  or  laws  against  men  who  do  not  hesitate  to  swear 
that  they  are  familiar  with  angels,  have  conversed  with  God 
and  Christ,  have  seen  the  dead  raised  and  the  sick  healed,  and 
who,  claim  the  same  rights  and  divine  authority  toward  us  that 
the  Jews  claimed  and  exercised  towards  the  Canaanites?" 

What  truth  there  was  in  all  this  no  man  can  now  determine ; 
the  evidence  is  such  a  mass  of  contradiction  that  the  historian 
abandons  it  in  despair.  But  back  of  it,  underlying  all  the 
Mormon  troubles,  was  and  is  this  radical  distinction  :  the  Mor- 
mons are  determined  to  have  a  government  conducted  by  priests, 
a  theocracy ;  the  Americans  are  just  as  determined  to  have  a 
democracy.  Neither  party  will  yield  to  the  other  one  inch 
farther  than  compelled  to ;  as  soon  as  the  minority  gets  strong 
enough  it  will  rebel.  Nine  times  has  this  occurred  in  Mor- 
mon history,  and  in  some  shape  it  will  recur;  the  aboli- 
tion of  polygamy  will  not  even  mitigate  it.  There  is  and 
must  be  inexpiable  war  between  priestly  government  and 
democracy. 


50  POLYGAMY;     oil,    THK    MYSTERIES 

By  (he  1;.  ^••ptember  civil  war  was  in  full  progress.     It 

»t  necessary  to  follow  the  minor  details  or  do  more  than 
note  the  main  events.  The  governor  continued  to  hurry  tr 
to  the  disturbed  districts,  and  the  Mormons  gradually  concen- 
trated at  and  around  Far  West.  Captain  Bogart's  company 
defeated  a  detachment  of  seventy  Mormons ;  another  Mormon 
detachment  was  repulsed  at  Crooked  river  with  the  loss  of  two 
killed.  The  Mormons  next  drove  the  Gentiles  from  Gallatin 
vicinity,  burning  and  plundering  several  houses.  The  Gentiles 
in  large  force  attacked  Adam-Ondi-Ahman,  burned  much  of  it. 
ran  off  the  stock,  shot  several  men  and  outraged  some  women. 
The  Mormons  were  successively  driven  from  the  outer  settle- 
ments, the  same  scenes  of  brutality  being  repeated.  As  aK 
happens  in  these  cases,  the  men  who  raised  the  forces  to  clear 
their  neighborhoods  of  what  they  considered  a  pest,  could  not 
control  the  storm  ;  all  the  lawless  elements  in  the  vicinity  lis- 
tened to  sack  and  plunder.  Orson  Hyde,  Thomas  B.  Marsh 
and  others  abandoned  the  Saints  and  made  affidavits  ehar«:inir 
them  with  murder  and  robbery.  Part  of  the  testimony  related 
to  the  Danite  Band,  then  just  organized  and  under  command  of 
Dr.  Sampson  Avard.  Smith  afterwards  repudiated  him,  but  at 
this  time  Avard  was  in  full  fellowship  in  the  church.  The  wit- 
ness reports  the  doctor's  address  to  the  band  thus : 

••  My  brethren,  as  you  have  been  chosen  to  be  our  leading 
men,  our  captains  to  rule  over  this  last  Kingdom  of  J  -  - 
Christ,  who  have  been  organized  after  the  ancient  order,  I  have 
called  upon  you  here  to-day  to  teach  you  and  instruct  you  in 
the  things  that  pertain  to  your  duty,  and  to  show  you  what 
your  privileges  are,  and  what  they  soon  will  be.  Know  ye  not, 
brethren,  that  it  soon  will  be  your  privilege  to  take  your  re- 
spective companies  and  go  out  on  a  scout  on  the  borders  of  the 
settlements  and  take  to  yourself  spoils  of  the  ungodly  Gentiles? 
For  it  is  written,  'The  riches  of  the  Gentiles  shall  be  const- 
crated  to  my  people,  the  house  of  Israel ;'  and  thu-  vay 
the  Gentiles  by  robbing  and  plundering  them  of  their  prope: 
and  in  this  way  we  will  build  up  the  Kingdom  of  God,  and 
roll  forth  the  little  stone  that  Daniel  saw  cut  out  of  the  rnouu- 


AND   CRIMES    OF    MORMONISM.  5l 

tain  without  hands  until  it  shall  fill  the  whole  earth.  For  this 
is  the  very  way  that  God  destines  to  build  up  his  Kingdom  in 
the  last  days.  If  any  of  us  should  be  recognized,  who  can  harm 
us  ?  For  we  will  stand  by  each  other  and  defend  one  another 
in  all  things.  If  our  enemies  swear  against  us,  we  can  swear 
also.  [The  captains  were  confounded  at  this,  but  Avard  con- 
tinued.] Why  do  you  startle  at  this,  brethren?  As  'the 
Lord'  liveth,  I  would  swear  a  lie  to  clear  any  of  you ;  and  if 
this  would  not  do,  I  would  put  them  or  him  under  the  sand  as 
Moses  did  the  Egyptian,  and  in  this  way  we  will  consecrate 
much  unto  'the  Lord/  and  build  up  his  Kingdom;  and  who 
can  stand  against  us  ?  And  if  any  of  us  transgress,  we  will 
deal  with  him  amongst  ourselves.  And  if  any  of  this  Danite 
Society  reveals  any  of  these  things,  I  will  put  him  where  the 
dogs  cannot  bite  him." 

The  name  was  adopted  from  Genesis  xlix.  17:  "  Dan  shall 
be  a  serpent  by  the  way,  an  adder  in  the  path  that  biteth  the 
horse's  heels  so  that  his  rider  shall  fall  backward." 

On  the  27th  of  October,  Governor  Boggs  received  dispatches 
that  the  Mormons  were  murdering  on  all  sides,  and  immedi- 
ately wrote  to  General  John  B.  Clarke  to  hasten  forward  with 
his  force,  adding  these  words  :  "  The  Mormons  must  be  treated 
as  enemies,  and  must  be  exterminated  or  driven  from  the  State  if 
necessary  for  the  public  good."  The  information  was  soon 
proved  to  be  exaggerated,  but  the  order  had  gone,  and  three 
days  after  occurred  the  horrible  tragedy  of  Hawn's  Mill.  There 
a  body  of  Mormons,  just  arrived,  were  encamped,  and  on  the 
30th  a  large  force  of  Missourians  attacked  them.  The  latter 
insist  that  they  were  fired  upon  before  attacking;  the  best  ver- 
sion for  the  Mormons  is  given  by  Joseph  Young,  brother  of 
Brigham,  and  one  of  the  survivors.  He  says  : 

"It  was  about  four  o'clock,  while  sitting  in  my  cabin,  with 
my  babe  in  my  arms,  and  my  wife  standing  by  my  side,  the 
door  being  open,  I  cast  my  eyes  on  the  opposite  bank  of  Shoal 
Creek,  and  saw  a  large  company  of  armed  men  on  horses 
directing  their  course  towards  the  mills  with  all  possible  sperd. 
As  they  advanced  through  the  scattering  trees  that  stood  on  the 


52  POLYGAMY;    OK,    THE    MYSTERIES 

side  of  the  prairie,  they  seemed  to  form  themselves  into  a  three 
square  position,  forming  a  vanguard  in  front. 

"At  this  moment,  David  Evans,  seeing  the  superiority  of 
their  numbers  (there  being  two  hundred  and  forty  of  them, 
according  to  their  own  account),  swung  his  hat  and  cried  for 
peace.  This  not  being  heeded,  they  continued  to  advance,  and 
their  leader,  Mr.  Xehemiah  Comstock,  fired  a  gun,  which  was 
followed  by  a  solemn  pause  of  ten  or  twelve  seconds,  when  all 
at  once  they  discharged  about  one  hundred  rifles,  aiming  at  a 
blacksmith's  shop  into  which  our  friends  had  fled  for  safety; 
and  charged  up  to  the  shop,  the  cracks  of  which  between  the 
logs  were  sufficiently  large  to  enable  them  to  aim  directly  at 
the  bodies  of  those  who  had  there  fled  for  refuge  from  the  fire 
of  their  murderers.  There  were  several  families  tented 
in  the  rear  of  the  shop,  whose  lives  were  exposed,  and 
amidst  a  shower  of  bullets  fled  to  the  woods  in  different 
directions." 

In  less  time  than  it  takes  to  relate  it,  eighteen  persons  were 
killed  or  mortally  wounded.  Sardius  Smith,  aged  nine  years, 
had  hidden  beneath  the  bellows  of  the  blacksmith  shop,  whence 
he  was  dragged  by  a  Missourian.  The  boy,  it  is  said,  never 
flinched ;  but  his  mother  fell  upon  her  knees  and  frantically 
begged  for  his  life.  Slowly  the  Missourian  drew  up  his  rifle  to 
his  eye  till  the  boy  looked  into  the  very  muzzle,  as  if  it  were  a 
mere  threat  to  frighten  him.  Again  the  mother  with  the 
eloquence  of  maternal  love  poured  forth  her  piteous  appeal. 
"  Kill  the  young  wolves,  and  there  will  be  no  old  ones !  "  With 
this  answer  the  Missourian  fired  ;  the  boy  fell  lifeless  on  the 
instant,  his  blood  and  brains  spattering  his  mother's  dress. 
But  a  minute  before  his  father,  Warren  Smith,  was  shot  dead, 
and  his  younger  brother,  not  over  seven  years,  was  knocked 
down  and  feigning  death,  lying  perfectly  still  in  the  midst  of 
the  havoc,  escaped.  He  now  lives  in  Utah,  a  very  respectable 
•  •itizen.  At  night  the  survivors  returned  and  buried  the 
bodies  in  an  old  well.  Xo  words  can  add  to  the  horrors 
of  thi>  action,  still  less  palliate  it.  It  only  shows  that  in  the 
heat  of  civil  war  the  worst  elements  on  both  sides  come  to  the 
front. 


AM)    CRIMES    OF    MOUMONISM.  53 

When  all  the  outposts  were  driven  in,  and  it  was  supposed 
a  bloody  battle  would  come  off  next  day,  Colonel  Hinkle,  com- 
manding the  Far  West  Mormons,  came  with  flag  of  truce  to  the 
camp  of  Generals  Doniphan,  Lucas  and  Clarke,  and  proposed  a 
surrender.  He  showed  plainly  by  his  altered  manner  that  his 
faith  was  gone ;  he  was  satisfied  "  the  Lord  "  would  not  fight 
for  the  Saints,  and  the  militia  would  fight  against  them. 
General  Lucas  stated  the  hard  terms  :  that  every  gun  and  every 
man  should  be  surrendered;  that  the  army  should  take  the 
leaders  to  prison,  and  the  rest  should  leave  the  State.  To  all 
this  Hinkle  agreed,  and  next  morning  brought  Joseph 
Smith,  Sidney  Rigdon  and  others,  and  delivered  them  to  the 
officers.  Henceforth  Hinkle  was  hated  with  a  fanatical 
hatred  by  the  Mormons.  The  Mormon  army  then  surrendered 
at  discretion  ;  the  troops  marched  in,  and  a  general  revelry 
followed,  in  which  much  mischief  was  done  in  spite  of  the 
officers. 

Joseph  and  Hyrum  Smith  and  forty  others  were  held  for 
trial,  and  the  militia  officers  forthwith  organized  a  Court 
Martial  and  condemned  several  of  them  to  be  shot!  But 
General  Doniphan,  a  sound  lawyer  and  brave  man,  by  a  firm 
use  of  his  authority  and  influence,  prevented  this  foolishly 
illegal  action.  The  prisoners  were  taken  before  the  nearest 
Circuit  Judge,  and  put  upon  trial  "  for  treason,  murder,  robbery, 
arson,  larceny,  and  breach  of  the  peace."  They  could  not  well 
have  been  tried  for  more ;  but  it  seems  by  the  evidence  that 
some  of  them  were  guilty  on  most  of  the  charges.  They  were 
committed  to  jail  to  await  their,  final  trial.  The  evidence  in 
the  case  was  printed  by  order  of  the  Missouri  Legislature,  and 
presents  a  singular  instance  of  how  a  few  knaves  may  lead  to 
their  destruction  a  whole  people,  if  sufficiently  ignorant  and 
fanatical.  Comparative  peace  was  restored,  but  the  history  of 
civil  commotions  shows  that  private  revenge  will  seek  such  a 
period  for  its  gratification,  and  in  many  neighborhoods  fearful 
outrages  were  perpetrated  upon  individual  Mormons  by  those 
who  held  a  personal  animosity  against  them.  Their  leaders 
had  provoked  a  conflict  for  which  the  innocent  suffered  r  arid 


54  POLYGAMY. 

the  most  quiet  and  unoffending  portion  of  the  Mormons  were 
hunted  out  and  rudely  hurried  from  their  homes  at  the  most 
inclement  season  of  the  year,  often  without  a  chance  to  supply 
themselves  or  dispose  of  their  property,  and  much  suffering  was 
the  result.  They  now  numbered  over  twelve  thousand, 
and  in  the  month  of  December  this  large  body  began  the 
journey  into  Illinois,  which  the  most  of  them  reached  in 
January,  1839. 

The  Missourians  found,  in  the  meantime,  that  they  had 
"caught  an  elephant;"  they  had  Joe  Smith,  his  brother 
Hyrum,  and  forty  others  in  jail  on  a  multitude  of  charges; 
but  many  of  the  witnesses  were  gone,  the  trial  would  have 
been  long  and  expensive,  and  it  was  probably  the  best  policy  to 
get  them  all  out  of  the  State  in  such  a  way  that  none  would 
re-enter  it,  rather  than  condemn  a  few  to  the  penitentiary. 
Accordingly,  they  were  removed  from  place  to  place,  loosely 
guarded,  and  on  the  15th  of  April,  Joseph  and  a  few  others 
c-raped  from  their  guards,  who  were  either  drunk  or  pre- 
tended to  be.  They  hastily  made  their  way  to  Quincy, 
followed  by  the  small  remnant  of  Mormons  which  had  been 
left  at  Far  West.  The  remaining  prisoners  escaped  and 
followed  soon  after,  and  in  the  language  of  Governor  Boggs' 
next  message,  "  the  young  and  growing  State  was  happily  rid 
of  the  fanatical  sect ; "  but  in  the  language  of  Mormon  poetry, 

" Missouri, 

Like  «i  whirlwind  in  her  fury, 

Drove  the  Saints  and  spilled  their  blood." 


PROPHET  STRANG   INTRODUCES  POLYGAMY. 


55 


56  POLYGAMY;   OR,    THE    MYSTERIES 


CHAPTER   TV. 

THE    NAUYOO    WONDER. 

Alliance  between  the  Prophet  and  the  land  speculator— Sudden  and  aston- 
ishing growth  of  Nauvoo — Political  trickery — Mormons  a  power  in  Illinois 
— The  remarkable  charters— Malign  influence  in  the  courts — Crime,  trickery, 
and  polygamy — Intrigues  of  Dr.  Bennett  and  the  Prophet — Outrageous 
treatment  of  Mrs.  Orson  Pratt — Dark  days  at  hand. 

Ix  the  early  months  of  1839  the  residents  of  West  Central 
Illinois  were  astonished  and  shocked  by  a  peculiar  invasion. 
Across  the  great  river  at  all  points  from  St.  Louis  to  Keokuk 
came  a  motley  array  of  forlorn  humanity :  foreigners,  whose 
broad  accent  attracted  twofold  more  attention  then  than  now ; 
Yankees,  whose  nasal  twang  was  scarcely  more  familiar;  stal- 
wart men  in  rags,  and  women  and  children  pinched  with  cold 
and  hunger.  The  largest  branch  of  the  invasion  struck  Quimy 
and  vicinity,  where  at  least  5,000  were  soon  collected ;  many 
went  as  far  east  as  Springfield,  and  the  rest  were  scattered  in 
ten  counties.  The  Illinois  people  only  waited  to  hear  that  these 
were  New  England  people  and  foreigners  expelled  by  violence 
from  a  slave-holding  State,  and  lavished  sympathy  upon  them. 

They  smiled  at  the  idea  that  the  Mormons  were  persecuted 
for  righteousness  sake,  and  made  haste  to  assume  that  they 
were  free-state  people  expelled  from  Missouri  for  free-state  prin- 
ciples. All  classes  and  parties  contributed  liberally  for  their 
relief:  even  the  Indians  then  upon  an  adjacent  reservation.  All 
houses  were  open,  and  the  people  of  several  localities  requested 
the  Saints  to  settle  among  them.  Politicians  hastened  to  make 
friends  of  so  important  a  body ;  men  with  schemes  to  build  up 
river  towns  solicited  an  alliance,  while  people  of  strong  sympa- 
thies wept  at  their  misfortunes,  grasped  them  by  the  hand,  and 
swore  to  stand  by  them  to'  the  bitter  end.  They  had  not  yet 


AND    CRIMES   OF    MORMONISM.  57 

caught  sight  of  the  cloven  foot  of  the  monster,  or  seen  its  mis- 
created front. 

Among  the  many  negotiators  was  Dr.  Isaac  Gal  land,  a  man 
accused  of  many  doubtful  transactions  in  early  life,  but  now  a 
respectable  citizen  of  Hancock  county — an  enterprising  specu- 
lator and  local  politician  of  some  influence.  Hancock  county 
had  been  mostly  included  in  the  so-called  Military  Tract,  and 
in  consequence  many  land  titles  were  very  doubtful ;  and  near 
the  Des  Moines  Rapids  a  large  strip  had  become  the  property 
of  Dr.  Galland.  As  early  as  1832  Lieut.  Robert  E.  Lee,  after- 
wards the  noted  Southern  general,  had  surveyed  the  rapids  and 
predicted  that  a  great  city  would  grow  up  there.  It  was  before 
the  railroad  era,  and  river  navigation,  with  the  water  power  of 
the  rapids,  and  the  necessity  of  transferring  freight  there,  would 
insure  a  metropolis.  Galland  saw  his  chance  in  the  coming  of 
the  Mormons,  many  of  whom  were  from  the  manufacturing 
cities,  and  all  at  the  command  of  the  Prophet.  Early  in  Mav 
he  contracted  with  Joseph  Smith  to  deed  the  latter  part  of  the 
land  on  condition  that  all  should  be  settled;  a  convenient 
revelation  followed,  the  Saints  came  by  thousands,  and  soon 
the  Mormon  star  was  again  in  the  ascendant. 

A  city  rose  as  if  by  magic.  The  first  house  on  the  new  site 
was  erected  June  11,  1839,  and  in  eighteen  months  thereafter 
there  were  two  thousand  dwellings,  besides  school-houses  and 
other  public  buildings.  The  new  city  was  named  NAUVOO,  a 
word  which  has  no  signification  in  any  known  language,  but  in 
the  "reformed  Egyptian"  of  Smith's  imaginary  history,  is  said 
to  mean  "  The  Beautiful."  The  site  was  indeed  beautiful,  but 
not  the  most  feasible  they  could  have  selected.  Instead  ol' 
locating  immediately  at  the  head  of  the  rapids,  where  there 
was  a  convenient  landing  at  all  seasons,  they  chose  a  spot  one 
mile  below,  only  approachable  by  steamboats  at  high  water. 
The  temporary  structures,  in  no  long  time,  gave  way  to  more 
permanent  buildings;  improvements  multiplied  on  every  hand, 
and  Joe  Smith  had  almost  daily  revelations  directing  how  every 
work  should  be  carried  on.  Here,  it  was  foretold,  was  to  be 
built  a  great  city  and  temple,  which  should  be  the  great  gath- 


58  POLYGAMY  ;    OR,    THE    MYSTERIES 

ering  place  of  "  Zion,"  and  central  rendezvous  of  the  sect, 
"until  such  time  as  the  Lord  should  open  the  way  for  their 
return  to  Zion,  indeed" — Jackson  county,  Missouri;  and  from 
here  were  to  spread  gigantic  operations  for  the  conversion  of  the 
world.  One  by  one  most  of  the  Missouri  apostates  came 
creeping  back  into  the  church  :  Orson  Hyde  was  restored  to 
his  place  as  apostle,  and  was  able  to  explain  his  apparent  defec- 
tion. A  missionary  board  was  organized,  and  arrangements 
perfected  for  foreign  missions  embracing  half  the  world.  On 
the  29th  of  August,  Orson  Pratt  and  Parley  P.  Pratt  set  out 
on  a  mission  to  England,  followed,  September  the  20th,  by 
Elders  Brigham  Young,  H.  C.  Kimball,  George  A.  Smith,  R. 
Hedlock,  and  T.  Turley.  Brigham  had  been  appointed  Presi- 
dent of  the  Twelve  Apostles  in  1838,  in  place  of  Thomas  B. 
Marsh,  the  apostate.  They  landed  at  Liverpool  the  6th  of 
April,  1840,  and  entered  with  zeal  upon  their  work.  Brigham 
assumed  entire  control  of  the  enterprise,  established  various 
missions,  baptized  numerous  converts,  labored  among  the 
common  people,  preached,  prayed,  wrote  and  argued,  lived 
hard,  and  travelled  hundreds  of  miles  on  foot.  May  the  29th, 
1840,  he  established  and  issued  the  first  number  of  the  Latter- 
Day  Xainttt9  Millennial  War,  a  periodical  never  suspended  since. 
He  organized  a  number  of  flourishing  churches,  and  early  in 
1841  returned  to  Xauvoo  with  seven  hundred  and  sixty-nine 
converts.  Thereafter  Brigham  Young  was  the  growing  man 
in  the  church,  every  day  standing  closer  to  the  Prophet,  while 
in  like  proportion  the  power  of  Rigdon  declined. 

In  November,  1839,  Joseph  Smith,  Sidney  Rigdon,  Elias 
Higbee  and  Orrin  Porter  Rockwell  reached  Washington  City 
a-  a  delegation  to  ask  redress.  They  had  an  interview  with 
President  Van  Buren,  who  condoled  with  them  on  their  suffer- 
ings, but  added :  "  It  is  a  case  for  State  courts ;  the  general 
government  cannot  interfere  in  the  domestic  concerns  of  Mis- 
souri." The  Prophet  reported  him  as  saying,  "  I  should  lose 
the  vote  of  Missouri."  Of  course  he  did  not  say  it — no  man 
who  knew  Van  Buren  can  believe  that — but  he  might  have 
thought  it;  and  Smith,  according  to  Mormon  standards  of 


AND    CRIMES    OF    MORMONISM.  59 

truth,  thought  it  all  right  to  credit  him  with  what  it  was  be- 
lieved he  would  say  if  outspoken.  Sidney  Rigdoii  also  ad- 
dressed a  memorial  to  the  Legislature  of  his  native  Pennsyl- 
vania, praying  for  redress.  Nothing  resulted  from  either 
application,  but  they  drew  all  the  more  attention  to  Nauvoo, 
and  many  curiosity  hunters  visited  it.  The  apostles  hastened 
to  take  advantage  of  this.  One  very  common  trick  was  to  have 
some  good  Saint  or  well-paid  Gentile  start  from  New  York  as 
on  a  western  tour,  writing  letters  to  the  press ;  he  would  repeat 
the  horrible  stories  told  of  the  Mormons  as  he  drew  near  them, 
express  some  apprehensions  for  his  safety,  then  suddenly  change 
to  long  and  eloquent  eulogies  on  their  enterprise,  honesty  and 
kindness  when  he  did  reach  them.  The  magic  city  and  the 
rising  temple  were  brilliantly  written  up,  and  all  who  imputed 
evil  to  the  Saints  were  set  down  as  envious  slanderers. 

In  October,  1 840,  a  petition  with  many  thousand  names  was 
forwarded  to  the  Legislature  for  an  act  incorporating  Nauvoo ; 
and  on  the  3d  of  that  month  ground  was  broken  for  a  temple. 
Ambitious  and  unscrupulous  men  crowded  into  the  sect  from 
all  sections,  among  them  some  of  note.  Dr.  Isaac  Gal  land  was 
baptized,  and  became  a  business  elder.  Jacob  Backinistos,  a 
Democratic  politician  of  local  power,  came  in  and  assisted  their 
political  schemes.  General  James  Arlington  Bennett,  a  literary 
adventurer  of  note  at  the  time,  wrote  to  Smith,  proposing  a  re- 
ligious and  political  alliance,  adding,  with  refreshing  candor, 
"You  know  Mohammed  had  his  right-hand  man  "  Smith  re- 
plied in  a  tone  of  good-humored  sarcasm,  adding,  however,  a 
sort  of  offer  for  Bennett  to  visit  Nauvoo.  The  latter  came  soon 
after  and  was  baptized  into  the  church,  but  not  being  trusted  to 
the  extent  he  desired,  soon  departed. 

Another  Bennett  came  who  was  not  so  easily  shaken  off.  Dr. 
John  Cooke  Bennett  is  pronounced  by  Governor  Ford  "one 
of  the  greatest  scamps  in  the  Western  country."  He  was  a  man 
of  real  talent,  some  ambition,  overbearing  zeal  and  all-engross- 
ing lust;  at  the  same  time  rather  good-looking,  of  smooth  man- 
ners and  easy  address.  Besides  being  a  medical  graduate  and 
practising  physician,  he  had  acquired  considerable  military  and 


60  POLYGAMY;    OR,    THE    MYSTERIES 

engineering  skill,  and  had  been  Adjutant-General  of  the  State 
of  Illinois.  He  now  brought  his  talents  and  rascality  to  an 
alliance  with  Joe  Smith ;  for  a  year  and  a-half  he  was  his  inti- 
mate friend  and  trusted  counsellor,  when,  as  has  often  happened 
before,  a  beautiful  woman  set  them  at  outs,  and  forever  put  an 
riid  to  this  touching  friendship.  These,  and  a  score  of  others 
of  like  character,  attached  themselves  to  the  rising  sect  and  be- 
came Joe  Smith's  unscrupulous  tools  and  allies.  As  for  the 
common  Saints,  the  pliable  mass,  though  not  nearly  so  foolish 
and  fanatical  as  in  Jackson  county,  they  were  quite  as  obse- 
quious, and  worked  steadily  to  build  up  the  material  interests 
of  "Zion." 

The  missions  in  England,  Wales  and  Scotland  prospered 
greatly,  and  many  thousands  of  foreign  Saints  arrived  in 
Xauvoo;  some  remained,  but  the  majority  were  scattered  in 
-cttlements  through  the  country,  which  the  Prophet  called 
"'  Stakes  of  Zion."  They  were  not  to  rival  the  great  city,  but 
to  be  its  feeders  and  tributaries.  The  swamp  land  adjacent  to 
Nauvoo  was  drained,  and  the  site  rendered  quite  healthful  ;  the 
rapids  wore  surveyed  by  J.  ('.  Bennett,  and  a  wing  dam  pro- 
jected which  was  to  make  a  commodious  harbor  in  front  of 
Nauvoo,  and  secure  driving  power  sufficient  to  turn  all  the  fac- 
tory wheels  of  a  vast  commercial  city. 

The  Presidential  campaign  of  1840  opened  with  a  fury  un- 
equalled even  in  that  era  of  furious  politics,  and  long  before  its 
close  the  country  was  at  a  white  heat  of  excitement.  Joseph 
Smith  was  absolute  master  of  3,000  votes,  and  politicians  flocked 
around  him.  His  people  had  been  driven  from  a  Democratic 
State  by  order  of  a  Democratic  governor,  and  himself  denied 
redrew-  bv  a  Democratic  President;  while  his  memorial  against 
Missouri  had  been  introduced  and  countenanced  in  the  Senate 
of  the  United  States  by  Henry  Clay,  and  in  the  House  by  John 
F.  Stuart,  both  Whigs. 

He  felt  friendly  to  them,  but  finding  he  had  great  power,  de- 
termined to  use  it  well,  and  took  good  care  not  to  commit  him- 
self. When  wined,  dined,  toasted  and  feasted  by  managers  of 
both  parties,  he  stated  in  general  terms  that  he  felt  no  particular 


AND   CRIMES   OF    MORMONISM.  61 

interest  in  politics;  he  had  tried  the  Yankees  of  New  York, 
and  the  free  soilers  of  the  Western  Reserve,  and  had  met  with 
rough  treatment ;  he  had  gone  thence  to  the  pro-slavery  Mis- 
souriaiis,  and  had  met  with  rougher  treatment ;  the  Democrats 
had  robbed  him,  and  the  Whigs  refused  him  redress,  and  he 
had  little  confidence  in  either. 

But  there  were  certain  things  absolutely  necessary  for  his 
city  to  receive  from  the  Legislature,  to  protect  him  and  his 
people  from  mobs,  and  the  party  that  could  most  certainly  give 
him  these  would  obtain  his  support.  This  cheerful  frankness 
was  met  by  renewed  protestations  of  respect  and  good-will,  and 
both  parties  were  eager  to  grant  him  favors. 

After  secret  consultation  with  his  counsellors  at  Xauvoo, 
Joseph  had  a  revelation  to  support  the  Whig  ticket,  which  the 
Mormons  did  unanimously  in  1840  and  1841.  In  the  Legis- 
lature of  1840-'41  it  became  an  object  with  the  Democrats  to 
conciliate  them,  and  at  that  session  Dr.  J.  C.  Bennett  came  with 
a  charter,  mainly  drawn  up  by  himself  and  Smith,  for  the  in- 
corporation of  Nauvoo.  The  charter  was  referred  to  the 
Judiciary  Committee,  who  reported  favorably,  the  ayes  and 
noes  were  called  in  neither  house,  and  the  charter  passed  with- 
out a  dissenting  vote. 

The  annals  of  ancient  and  modern  legislation  might  be 
searched  in  vain  for  a  parallel  to  that  Nauvoo  charter.  It  gave 
all  the  powers  ever  granted  to  incorporated  cities,  and  power  to 
pass  all  laws  "not  repugnant  to  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States,  or  of  this  State"  which  was  afterwards  interpreted  to 
mean  that  they  might  pass  local  ordinances  contrary  to  the  laws 
of  the  State.  It  provided  for  a  mayor,  four  aldermen  and  nine 
councillors,  and  established  a  mayor's  court,  with  exclusive 
jurisdiction  of  all  cases  arising  under  the  city  ordinances. 

It  also  established  a  municipal  court,  to  be  composed  of  the 
mayor  as  chief  justice,  and  four  aldermen  as  associates,  and 
gave  this  court  the  power  to  issue  writs  of  habeas  corpus.  And 
this  not  only  to  try  the  sufficiency  of  writs  issuing  from  any 
other  court,  which  is  a  power  rarely  granted  a  municipal  court, 
but,  as  was  claimed,  to  go  beyond  that  and  try  the  original 


62  POLYGAMY;  ou,  THE  MISTERIES 

cause  of  action.  Hitherto  none  but  judges  of  the  Supreme  and 
Circuit  courts  could  issue  such  writs,  and  there  were  just  nint 
persons  in  the  State  empowered  to  do  so ;  but  this  act  at  one 
fell  swoop  conferred  it  upon  the  five  judges  of  this  municipal 
court,  and  those  the  persons  above  all  others  most  liable  to 
abuse  it.  It  also  incorporated  the  militia  of  Xauvoo  into  a 
body  to  be  called  the  Xauvoo  Legion,  independent  of  all  other 
militia  officers  in  the  State,  except  the  governor  as  commander- 
in-chief.  It  established  a  court-martial  for  this  legion,  com- 


GENEKAL  JOSEPH    SMITH    REVIEWING   THE    NATVuo    LEGION. 

posed  of  the  commissioned  officers,  entirely  independent  of  all 
other  officers,  and  in  the  regulations,  not  yovcnu'd  bi/  the  fairs  oj 

"Id 

This  legion  was  to  be  at  the  disposal  of  the  mayor  in  exe- 
cuting the  ordinances  of  the  city.  Another  charter  incorporated 
a  great  tavern  to  be  known  as  the  Xauvoo  House.  "Thus." 
says  Governor  Ford,  "it  was  proposed  to  establish  for  the 
Mormons  a  government  within  a  government ;  a  legislature 


AND    CRIMES    OF    MORMONISM.  63 

with  power  to  pass  ordinances  at  war  with  the  laws  of  the 
State;  courts  to  execute  them  with  but  little  dependence  upon 
the  constitutional  judiciary,  and  a  military  force  at  their  own 
command,  to  be  governed  by  its  own  laws  and  ordinances,  and 
subject  to  no  State  authority  but  that  of  the  governor." 

Early  in  1841  the  city  government  was  organized  under  this 
charter,  and  Joseph  Smith  elected  Mayor.  He  was  now  Mayor 
of  the  city,  Lieutenant-General  of  the  legion,  ex  ojficio  Judge, 
landlord  of  the  Nauvoo  House,  and  rolling  in  the  wealth  ac- 
quired by  sale  of  the  land  deeded  him  by  Galland.  But  he 
grasped  at  higher  honors,  and  even  more  abounded  in  revela- 
tions. January  19th,  1841,  came  the  Long  Revelation,  forty- 
six  paragraphs,  reorganizing  the  entire  church  and  consecrating 
the  cash  of  wealthy  members  to  various  uses.  William  Law 
was  promoted  to  be  Counsellor,  in  place  of  Hyrum  Smith,  and 
Hyrum  was  made  Patriarch,  a  new  office.  The  Twelve  Apostles 
then  chosen  are  thus  characterized  by  the  church  historian  : 

"  Brigham  Young,  the  Lion  of  the  Lord;  Parley  P.  Pratt,  the 
Archer  of  Paradise  ;  Orson  Hyde,  the  Olive  Branch  of  Israel; 
Willard  Richards,  the  Keeper  of  the  Rolls;  John  Taylor,  the 
Champio:  of  Right;  William  Smith,  the  Patriarchal  Jacob's 
Staff;  Wilford  Woodruff,  the  Banner  of  the  Gospel;  George  A. 
Smith,  the  Entablature  of  Truth;  Orson  Pratt,  the  Gauge  of 
Philosophy ;  John  E.  Page,  the  Sun  Dial;  and  Lyman  Wight, 
the  Wild  Ram  of  the  Mountains." 

These  were  the  palmy  days  of  Joe  Smith ;  this  was  the 
golden  age  of  Mormonism.  The  former  was  no  more  the  wan- 
dering lad,  with  "  peep-stone  "  and  hazel  rod,  or  the  fugitive 
vagabond  fleeing  from  Missouri  rifles;  he  was  at  the  head  of  a 
now  consolidated  and  rapidly  augmenting  sect;  he  was  courted 
and  flattered  of  politicians;  he  was  absolute  ruler  and  main 
proprietor  of  a  city  already  populous,  and  destined  to  be  rich 
and  powerful.  But  into  the  very  noon  of  this  halcyon  day 
floated  the  faint  rumbling  of  a  distant  earthquake,  and  afar 
upon  the  political  and  social  horizon  appeared  a  little  cloud, 
"  no  bigger  than  a  man's  hand,"  which  stayed  not  till  it  dark- 
ened the  whole  heaven  of  the  future,  and  dashed  this  proud 


64  POLYGAMY;    OR,    THE    MYSTERIES 

fabric  to  the  ground.  I  must  now  set  forth  a  change  in 
popular  opinion,  sudden  and  violent  beyond  parallel  in 
American  history.  The  causes  may  be  grouped  under  three 
heads : 

I.  Criminal.     II.  Moral  and  Social.     III.  Political. 

I.  In  the  first,  it  may  well  be  said,  the  Mormons  were 
destined  to  experience,  in  all  its  bitterness,  the  force  of  the 
homely  adage  in  regard  to  giving  a  dog  a  bad  name.  The 
Mississippi  Valley,  from  St.  Louis  to  Galena,  had  been  for 
years  unusually  infested  with  reckless  and  blood-stained  men. 
The  whole  of  southeastern  Iowa  and  much  of  northeastern 
Missouri  was  in  a  comparatively  wild  and  lawless  state;  the 
"  half-breed  "  tract  of  the  former,  from  unsettled  land  titles  and 
other  causes,  was  appropriated  as  a  refuge  for  and  overrun  by 
coiners,  horse-thieves  and  robbers ;  and  the  latter  section,  adja- 
cent, was  little  if  any  better.  The  law  was  enforced  with  slack- 
ness, or  the  combination  of  rogues  was  too  great  for  the  ordinary 
machinery  of  justice;  people  had  but  little  confidence  in  courts 
and  juries,  and,  in  more  atrocious  cases  than  common,  satisfied 
themselves  with  lynch  law. 

The  islands  and  groves  farther  up  the  river,  near  Davenport 
and  Rock  Island,  were  the  hiding  places  of  regularly  organized 
bands  of  marauders ;  as  also  were  the  bayous  and  hollows  near 
Nauvoo.  Robbers  and  murderers  flocked  into  the  church  as  a 
cover  for  crime;  once  within  the  charmed  circle,  the  law  wa> 
powerless  to  reach  them.  The  Mormons  had  their  own  courts 
and  refused  to  credit  charges  against  a  Saint.  4t  Persecution  " 
was  a  sufficient  explanation.  The  criminals  had  assumed  the 
Mormon  name,  and  an  angry  people  could  not  be  expected  in 
go  into  their  city  and  discriminate  between  them;  they  struck 
blindly  at  the  whole  community,  and  thus  while  two-thirds  of 
them  were  probably  guiltless  of  crime,  all  suffered  alike.  In 
the  outer  settlements  there  was  actual  cause  to  complain  of  the 
foreign  Saints;  thousands  of  them  had  gathered  in  great  haste 
and  extreme  poverty;  they  had  nothing,  and  knew  not  how  tn 
rapidly  accommodate  themselves  to  their  new  pursuits,  and  at 
the  same  time  very  naturally  refused  to  starve  in  a  plentiful 


AND   CRIMES   OF    MORMONISM.  65 

country.  Their  doctrines  virtually  invited  them  to  take  what 
they  needed,  and  they  did.  As  to  the  heads  of  the  church  and 
their  newly-acquired  allies,  enough  has  been  said  to  show  that 
much  of  their  conduct  was  on  the  very  border-line  of  rascality, 
if  it  did  not  altogether  step  over  it. 

II.  The  moral  and  social  causes  all  centre  in  polygamy ;  but 
no  research  has  settled  at  what  time  this  system  was  grafted 
upon  Mormonism.  Joseph  Smith's  sons  say  it  was  after 
Brigham  Young  obtained  control ;  the  Brighamites  say  it  was 
by  revelation  given  July  12th,  1843,  but  abundant  evidence  of 
a  sort  of  polygamy  can  be  found  as  far  back  as  1834.  Many 
old  Mormons  testify  that  Joseph  told  them  he  had  preliminary 
revelations  on  the  subject  as  early  as  1832,  and  was  impressed 
with  the  belief  that  polygamy  would  some  day  be  the  practice 
of  the  church,  while  all  the  early  church  records  are  full  of 
sharges  and  counter  charges,  with  trials  and  excommunications 
for  adultery.  The  new  spirit  was  singularly  affectionate,  and 
required  great  exertions  to  keep  it  within  bounds.  All  the 
Mormon  regulations  of  early  times  also  show  that  they  were 
designed  to  fit  some  unusual  social  system,  and  hundreds  of 
people  still  living  testify  in  the  most  positive  manner  that 
polygamy  existed  among  the  Mormons  in  Missouri,  though  it 
was  then  rather  a  system  of  what  is  now  called  "  free  love." 
Elder  Howard  Coray,  who  was  at  that  time  a  confidential  clerk 
of  Joe  Smith  states  that  he  was  present  at  the  time  Smith  and 
Bennett  were  constructing  the  Nauvoo  charter ;  that  Bennett 
objected  to  certain  clauses  as  being  "  too  strong,"  to  which 
Smith  replied,  "  We  must  have  that  power  in  our  courts,  for 
this  work  will  gather  of  all  mankind ;  the  Turk,  with  his  ten 
iri-res,  will  come  to  Nauvoo,  and  we  must  have  laws  to  protect 
him  with  these  wives."  Elder  Coray,  now  a  devoted  Brigham- 
ite  at  Salt  Lake,  advanced  this  to  disprove  the  statement  of  Joe 
Smith's  sons  that  their  father  did  not  establish  polygamy.  It 
merely  proves,  as  will  hereafter  be  shown,  that  he  was  in  that 
practice  long  before  the  date  of  his  pretended  revelation.  Many 
women  left  their  natural  protectors  and  lived  in  open  concu- 
binage with  Mormons  in  Nauvoo,  and  that  many  Mormons  lost 
5 


66  POLYGAMY;  OK,  THE  MYSTERIES 

their  wives  by  reason  of  the  latter's  passionate  attachment  to  an 
apostle  or  elder  is  not  denied  even  by  the  Saints. 

III.  But  the  great  cause  of  popular  hostility,  which  finally 
led  to  the  worst  result,  was  the  Mormon  system  of  voting 
solidly,  at  the  dictation  of  the  Prophet.  They  have  always  in- 
sisted on  this  principle,  pretending  that  there  would  be  no 
union  in  their  church,  if  the  members  were  allowed  to  vote  by 
individual  will.  Such  a  course  must  ever  have  one  effect,  to 
cause  the  church  to  be  regarded  as  a  mere  political  entity,  to  be 
fought  accordingly ;  and  if  persisted  in,  it  must  be  a  constant 
source  of  faction.  Any  such  church  would  constitute  a  dan- 
gerous power  in  a  republican  government;  and  would  soon 
have  arrayed  against  it  all  those  who  were  defeated  by  its  vote, 
all  who  failed  to  get  its  support,  all  who  disdained  to  stoop  to 
the  arts  necessary  to  obtain  it,  and  all  those  who  clearly  saw 
the  evil  tendency  of  such  a  system.  In  two  years  after  he 
entered  Illinois,  Joe  Smith  was  absolute  master  of  three  thou- 
sand votes  ;  practically,  he  might  just  as  well  have  been  allowed 
to  cast  so  many  himself. 

Such  power  in  the  hands  of  a  corrupt  man,  used  with  a  sin- 
gular perfidy  and  in  the  interests  of  such  a  clique,  would  alone 
be  almost  sufficient  to  determine  the  people  upon  the  expulsion 
of  him  and  his  fanatical  sect.  The  particular  situation,  at  the 
time,  rendered  this  evil  ten-fold  more  apparent.  The  votes  of 
the  two  parties  in  Illinois  were  nearly  equal,  and  Illinois  was 
likely  to  decide  the  coming  Presidential  election.  Such  con- 
tingencies are  liable  to  frequently  occur  in  our  politics,  and 
henceforth  set  it  down  as  an  American  axiom,  that  any  church 
a>suming  to  cast  its  vote  as  a  unit,  for  its  own  interests,  under 
the  dictation  of  its  spiritual  head  or  heads,  is  the  deadly  foe  of 
our  liberties,  and  justly  an  object  of  distrust  and  dislike  to 
every  lover  of  his  country. 

This  malign  influence  had  already  wrought  great  evil  in  the 
administration  of  law.  Every  attempt  from  Missouri  to  exe- 
cute a  writ  in  Xauvoo  had  been  baffled  by  the  politicians  or 
the  Mormon  courts,  and  thus  virtual  notice  given  that  Mor- 
mons committing  crime  in  Missouri  could  not  be  punished. 


AN!)    CRIMES    OF    MORMONISM.  67 

Governor  Carlin,  who  had  signed  the  charter,  had  the  mortifi- 
cation to  see  his  own  endorsement  of  a  requisition,  with  the 
broad  seal  of  Illinois  upon  it,  set  aside  most  contemptuously 
by  the  municipal  court  at  Nauvoo.  But  soon  after  a  more 
serious  affair  roused  the  Illinois  officials  to  the  terrible  danger 
of  their  policy  and  the  character  of  the  institution  they  were 
fostering.  Governor  Boggs,  of  Missouri,  while  sitting  in  the 
evening  near  his  window,  was  fired  upon  and  seriously  wounded 
in  the  head.  This  was  in  May,  1842,  and  it  was  soon  known 
that  Orrin  Porter  Rockwell,  one  of  the  Danites,  had  left 
Nauvoo  not  long  before,  and  when  the  Prophet  was  asked 
where  Rockwell  had  gone,  he  answered  with  a  laugh,  "O,  just 
gone  to  fulfill  a  prophecy."  As  the  Prophet  had  delivered 
several  forecasts  as  to  sudden  vengeance  on  the  "Missouri 
Nero,"  this  expression  was  conclusive  to  a  Missouri  grand  jury, 
and  indictments  were  at  once  found  against  Rockwell  as  prin- 
cipal and  Joseph  Smith  as  accessory.  The  Missouri  authorities 
procured  a  requisition,  which  was  properly  endorsed  by  Gov- 
ernor Ford,  of  Illinois,  and  contemptuously  set  aside  by  the 
municipal  court  at  Nauvoo!  Here  was  a  square  issue  at  last: 
should  the  conjoint  action  of  two  sovereign  States  be  defeated 
by  the  corporation  of  one  small  city? 

Cyrus  Walker,  Esq.,  of  McDonough  county,  acted  as  attor- 
ney for  the  Mormons  in  these  proceedings;  and  having  once 
defended  the  Mormon  municipality  in  its  sweeping  exercise  of 
jurisdiction,  was  swept  along  by  the  current  of  events  and  for 
consistency's  sake  had  to  maintain  the  same  doctrine  when  the 
case  wrent  higher.  The  Missouri  officials  at  once  applied  to 
Governor  Ford  for  a  body  of  militia  to  enforce  the  writ,  treat- 
ing the  action  of  the  Nauvoo  court  as  a  nullity,  and  Mr. 
Walker  went  as  attorney  for  the  Mormons  to  resist  the  appli- 
cation. This  put  the  Governor  in  a  fix.  In  the  first  place  he 
was  not  at  all  clear  as  to  his  duty,  and  in  the  second  he  knew 
that  by  granting  the  request  of  the  Missourians  his  party,  the 
Democrats,  would  lose  the  entire  Mormon  vote.  So  he  asked 
time  for  decision.  But  the  Whigs  were  not  asleep — no,  not 
by  any  manner  of  means.  Seeing  that  Mr.  Walker  was  now 


68  POLYGAMY;   OR,   THE    MYSTERIES 

the  loved  and  trusted  attorney  of  the  Mormons,  the  Whigs 
nominated  him  for  Congress  in  that  district,  well  knowing  that 
if  he  got  the  Mormon  vote,  the  Democratic  candidate,  Mr. 
Hoge,  would  be  without  hope.  The  Mormons  now  had  things 
just  to  suit  them.  Joseph  Smith  was  profuse  in  his  thanks  to 
Walker,  and  promised  earnestly  to  support  him.  Walker  fully 
believed  that  this  settled  every  Mormon  vote  in  his  favor,  was 
satisfied  he  need  do  nothing  more,  and  returned  home  to  study 
up  the  political  questions  of  the  day,  and  fit  himself  for  his 
future  duties  in  Congress. 

But  the  Governor  and  other  Democrats  had  not  exhausted 
their  resources.  The  Governor  had  not  yet  officially  decided 
whether  he  would  order  out  the  militia,  and  in  this  state  of 
uncertainty  the  Mormon  leaders  sent  Jake  Backinstos  to. 
manoeuvre  at  Springfield,  and  ascertain  if  possible  what  the 
Governor  would  finally  do.  Governor  Ford  wras  absent  at  St. 
Louis,  and  a  prominent  Democrat,  in  his  interest  at  Springfield, 
gave  the  most  solemn  assurances  in  the  Governor's  name,  that 
the  militia  would  not  be  sent  against  the  Mormons,  if  they  voted 
the  Democratic  ticket.  Governor  Ford  says  he  did  not  kno\\ 
of  this  promise  in  his  name,  till  after  the  Mormons  left  the 
State.  With  this  promise,  Backinstos  reached  Xauvoo  but  two 
days  before  the  election,  and  within  three  hours  after  his 
arrival  a  mass-meeting  of  the  Mormons  was  called.  Then 
Hyrum  Smith  arose  and  announced  that  he  had  just  received  a 
revelation  from  heaven  that  the  Mormons  were  to  vote  for  the 
Democrat,  Mr.  Hoge!  They  were  still  in  doubt  till  the 
Prophet  arrived  next  day,  w?hen  the  whole  voting  population 
of  Nauvoo  assembled  to  hear  from  him.  He  stated  that  he 
was  not  prepared  to  advise  them  with  regard  to  election 
matters;  he  could  only  inform  them  that  he  had  pledged  his 
own  vote  to  Mr.  Walker,  and  would  keep  his  pledge;  but  he 
had  received  no  communication  from  the  Lord  on  the  subject; 
"  he  had  not  seen  the  Lord,  nor  had  he  gone  to  seek  the  Lord 
about  the  matter.  He  was  not  disposed  to  call  upon  the  Lord 
at  the  request  or  desire  of  any  Gentile  politician ;  if  the  Lord 
really  wanted  to  see  him,  there  was  nothing  to  prevent  His 


AND   CRIMES    OF    MORMONISM.  69 

calling  upon  him.  So  far  as  he  was  concerned,  the  people 
might  vote  for  Walker,  Hoge,  or  the  devil ;  it  was  all  the  same 
to  him.  But,"  continued  the  Prophet,  "I  am  informed  my 
brother  Hyrum  has  seen  the  Lord,  and  has  something  to  say  to 
you.  I  have  known  brother  Hyrum  ever  since  he  was  a  boy, 
and  never  knew  him  to  lie.  When  the  Lord  speaks  let  all  the 
earth  keep  silent."  Thereupon  brother  Hyrum  took  the  stand 
and  boldly  announced  that  he  had  seen  the  Lord,  who  had  in- 
structed him  to  support  Mr.  Hoge,  "and  brethren,  you  are  all 
commanded  to  vote  for  Mr.  Hoge,  for  thus  saith  the  Lord  God 
Almighty."  This  short  address  of  the  Patriarch  was  no  doubt 
the  most  powerful  and  convincing  stump  speech  ever  delivered. 
When  the  count  was  rendered  next  day,  Mr.  Cyrus  Walker 
had  one  vote,  whilst  Hoge's  counted  by  thousands. 

The  writer  of  this  history  barely  hopes  to  be  believed  when 
he  relates  that  in  the  enlightened  State  of  Illinois,  in  the  year 
of  Grace,  1843,  an  assemblage  of  American  citizens  could  be 
found  so  deplorably  ignorant  as  to  be  thus  controlled  by  two 
such  shameless  impostors.  Yet  so  it  was.  The  proof  is  over- 
whelming. Mr.  Walker  was  defeated,  and  became  the  most 
bitter  and  uncompromising  of  anti-Mormons;  and  fearful  pun- 
ishment soon  overtook  the  Smiths  for  their  political  treachery. 
The  Whigs  now  saw  with  amazement,  that  the  most  solemn 
promises  meant  nothing  from  Joseph  Smith;  the  Democrats 
generally  felt  that  a  sect  of  such  political  power,  for  sale  every 
day  and  every  hour  in  the  day,  and  uncertain  till  the  last  hour 
of  election,  was  no  safe  ally,  and  both  parties  awaked  to  the 
startling  fact,  that  Joseph  Smith  was  actual  dictator  of  their 
politics  and  chose  their  rulers.  The  anti-Mormon  excitement 
was  accelerated  tenfold,  and  ceased  not  till  their  final  and  com- 
plete expulsion  from  the  State.  And  disastrous  as  was  that 
expulsion,  terrible  as  were  the  sufferings  of  individual  Mor- 
mons, it  is  scarcely  too  much  to  say  they  richly  deserved  it,  for 
this  one  act  of  perfidy  and  folly. 

Meanwhile,  indeed  all  through  the  years  1842  and  1843, 
little  events  were  occurring  which  slowly  but  surely  raised  the 
wrath  of  the  surrounding  population  to  a  white  heat  against 


70  POLYGAMY;    OR,    THE    MYSTERIES 

Nauvoo.  It  was  alleged  that  stray  cattle  never  returned  if 
they  strayed  towards  Nauvoo,  and  that  the  man  who  sued  in 
the  Nauvoo  courts  was  sure  of  nothing  but  costs  and  insults. 
Another  difficulty  arose  with  land-owners  near  by  and  even  in 
the  city;  many  of  these  had  refused  to  join  the  church  or  even 
contribute  to  public  movements,  but  sold  out  with  enormous 
gains  as  a  result  of  the  growth  of  the  population.  The  Mor- 
mons claimed  that  >uch  holders  were  entitled  onlv  to  their 
•  •riiMnal  pavmcnt  and  reasonable  intm-M,  and  to  oust  them  and 
the  intermeddling  plaintiffs  from  the  country  the  "whittling 
deacons"  were  organized.  These  were  young  and  adventurous 
fellows,  armed  with  pieces  of  pine  board  and  sharp  dirk-knives, 
always  ready  for  instant  service.  If  a  stranger  were  seen  on 
the  streets,  the  first  thing  was  to  find  out  if  he  were  obnoxious. 
An  experienced  spy  was  placed  upon  his  track,  who  followed 
him  until  it  was  ascertained  what  he  was.  If  he  appeared 
hostile  tn  the  Saints,  if  lie  spoke  disparagingly  of  the  Prophet 
or  his  religion,  they  would  surround  him,  and  whistling  gravely, 
keep  up  a  continual  whittling,  the  shavings  flying  into  the  lace 
and  over  the  person  of  the  obnoxious  one,  and  the  sharp  knives 
Ix'iiig  flourished  dangerously  close  to  his  ears.  If  timid  and 
nervous  he  retreated  soon;  but  if  he  faced  the  music,  the 
whittling  was  more  energetic,  the  whistling  louder  and  shriller, 
the  knives  approached  closer  and  flashed  more  brightly,  till  his 
retreat  was  a  necessity.  Orson  Pratt,  Jr.,  tells  me  he  often  saw 
them,  during  his  boyhood  in  Xauvoo,  following  a  stranger  who 
would  sometimes  stop  and  expostulate,  but  without  avail. 

If  the  offender  stood  out  against  the  " deacons,"  the  Danites 
were  next  set  upon  him.  Their  method  was  to  terrify  and 
insult  him,  to  salute  his  ears  with  strange  oaths  and  blasphemies, 
to  menace  him  with  threats  of  instant  death  and  to  flourish 
their  deadly  weapons  in  his  face.  If  the  suspected  was  still 
fool-hardy  enough  to  refuse  to  leave,  his  case  was  reported  to  a 
higher  tribunal,  who  gave  secret  and  mysterious  warnings, 
written  in  mystic  characters  and  stained  with  blood,  which 
were  dropped  in  the  way  of  the  suspected,  were  found  in  his 
bed-room,  or  about  his  person.  These  warned  him  to  leave  or 


AND   CRIMES   OF   MORMONISM.  71 

"become  cat-fish  bait."  If  he  still  remained,  a  row  was 
organized,  and  in  the  rnelee  he  was  sorely  beaten  ;  and  last  of 
all  death  was  inflicted  in  some  cases. 

Meanwhile  the  Nauvoo  council  went  on  passing  ordinances 
to  make  the  city  independent  of  the  State,  and  finally  adopted 
the  notorious  anti-writ  law,  which  provided  that  no  writ  issued 
from  any  other  place  than  Nauvoo,  for  the  arrest  of  any  person 
in  it,  should  be  executed  in  the  city,  without  an  approval 
endorsed  thereon  by  the  Mayor ;  that  if  any  public  officer,  by 
virtue  of  any  foreign  writ,  should  attempt  to  make  any  arrest 
in  the  city,  without  such  approval  of  his  process,  he  should  be 
subject  to  imprisonment  for  life,  and  that  the  Governor  of  the 
State  should  not  have  the  power  of  pardoning  the  offender 
without  the  consent  of  the  Mayor.  This  extraordinary  and  out- 
rageously foolish  act  drew  upon  them  alike  the  wrath  of  official 
and  citizen,  and  for  once  they  quailed  before  the  storm  and  re- 
pealed it.  They  then  petitioned  Congress  to  cut  Hancock  county 
off  from  Illinois,  and  give  it  a  territorial  government,  being  ap- 
parently in  dense  ignorance  of  the  Constitution,  as  to  that  subject. 

The  practice  of  polygamy  had  now  gone  so  far  that  conceal- 
ment was  no  longer  possible.  Dr.  Bennett  had  been  expelled 
for  teaching  a  "spiritual  wife7'  doctrine,  and  was  lecturing 
against  the  Mormons;  he  everywhere  proclaimed  that  polygamy 
was  their  practice,  and  in  return  they  published  a  scandalous 
and  sensational  history  of  Bennett's  life  among  them.  The 
whole  history  of  Mormon  society  at  that  time  is  a  muddle  of 
charges  and  counter-charges,  affidavits  and  replies,  perjuries 
and  contradiction  ;  but  it  is  sufficiently  proved  that  polygamy 
as  then  taught  was  to  be  the  privilege  of  both  sexes,  under 
certain  limitations.  It  was  in  short  a  celestialized  free-love, 
permitted  to  the  most  worthy  elders  and  such  females  as  they 
should  honor.  Old  Mormons  know  full  well  that  this  was  the 
height  and  depth  of  Nauvoo  morality  at  that  time.  The  best 
authenticated  case  is  that  of  Sarah  Pratt,  legal  wife  of  Apostle 
Orson  Pratt,  which  is  here  presented  as  related  by  herself,  with 
a  few  additional  facts  from  others. 

Orson  and   Sarah   Pratt  had  a  nice  home  in  Nauvoo,  and 


72  POLYGAMY. 

were  generally  respected  by  Saint  and  Gentile:  she  a  lady  of 
some  accomplishments  and  beauty,  with  rare  common  sense; 
he  an  honest,  earnest  visionary,  hard  student,  hard  worker  and 
dreamy  enthusiast.  In  them  might  be  seen  what  often  puzzles 
the  observer :  a  very  practical  woman  married  to  a  very  im- 
practical man.  In  the  absence  of  Orson  on  a  missionary  tour 
the  Prophet  cast  his  lustful  eye  upon  her  and  proposed  a 
"spiritual  wife  "  union,  which  she  indignantly  repelled.  Being 
already  skeptical,  this  broke  the  last  tie  which  bound  her  to  the 
church.  Then  Smith  forbade  the  church  steward  to  send  her 
the  allowance  which  was  given  the  families  of  missionaries, 
hoping  to  force  her  into  submission.  In  this  state  of  affairs 
Smith  and  Bennett  quarreled,  and  Bennett  published  the  affair 
with  Mrs.  Pratt,  adding  many  gross  exaggerations.  Smith 
promptly  rejoined  with  a  story  that  he  had  caught  Bennett  and 
Mrs.  Pratt  in  bed  together!  The  scandal  flew  from  mouth  to 
mouth,  and  the  city  was  soon  in  an  uproar. 

Smith  now  came  with  a  gang  of  "  whittling  deacons,"  and 
saintly  loafers,  and  made  a  public  demonstration  of  the  popular 
hatred,  before  the  door  of  the  Pratts.  Back  and  forward 
several  times  that  day  marched  this  disorderly  rabble,  with 
expressions  and  gestures  intended  to  show  that  the  whole  city 
regarded  Mrs.  Pratt  as  an  outcast;  but  she  had  too  many 
friends  to  be  driven  away.  Orson  soon  returned  and  heard 
Smith's  story  first;  he  was  driven  almost  wild  by  the  trouble, 
and  for  a  day  or  two  wandered  in  the  woods  along  the  river, 
refusing  to  see  his  wife.  At  length  mutual  friends  brought 
them  together;  he  was  convinced  of  her  innocence,  and  pro- 
nounced Smith  a  "fallen  Prophet."  One  conspicuous  actor  in 
the  tragi-comedy  was  a  Mrs.  Fuller,  a  prostitute  living  alone 
near  the  river.  She  produced  evidence  which  convinced  Pratt 
beyond  doubt  that  the  Prophet  was  a  man  of  extreme  profligacy, 
and  offered  to  conceal  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Pratt  in  her  house,  and 
allow  them  to  witness  one  of  Smith's  interviews  with  her;  but 
Orson  indignantly  rejected  this  proposition.  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Pratt  now  withdrew  from  Xauvoo;  Smith  stormed  at  them 
from  the  pulpit,  and  for  a  while  it  seemed  that  the  church  would 


74  POLYGAMY:   OR,  THE  MYSTERIES 

be  rent  asunder.  The  mingled  audacity  and  hypocrisy  of  the 
Prophet  restored  something  like  order.  An  interview  with 
Pratt  was  arranged,  and  some  sort  of  truce  patched  up.  Pratt 
returned  to  his  post,  but  declared  that  the  Prophet  had  violated 
the  law,  and  must  some  day  die  a  bloody  death  by  way  of  atone- 
ment. That  prophecy  was  even  then  near  fulfillment. 

Mrs.  Pratt  never  resumed  her  place  in  the  church,  but  taught 
her  children  to  hate  it.  Her  oldest  son,  Orson,  is  a  musician 
of  much  talent,  an  earnest,  honest  Gentile.  Another  son, 
Arthur,  is  a  United  States  official,  and  still  another,  Harmel, 
an  attorney  of  much  promise.  Thirty  years  after  the  above 
events  Mrs.  Pratt  used  this  language  in  referring  to  them  :  k>  My 
testimony  is  that  of  all  first  wives  who  speak  their  honest 
thoughts.  I  have  suffered  greatly,  and  only  became  reconciled 
when  1  brought  myself  to  look  upon  the  husband  of  my  youth 
as  long  ago  dead.  I  am  now  at  rest,  as  the  lonely  widow  of 
many  years  may  be  at  rest,  or  the  woman  whose  husband  was 
long  ago  divorced  from  her  forever/ 


AND  CHIMES  OF   MORMONISM.  75 


CHAPTER  Y. 


Hostility  aroused— Spiritual  wifery  exposed — Martha  Brotherton's  revelations 
— The  "  Expositor"  destroyed  by  a  Mormon  mob — Civil  war  breaks  out — 
Flight  of  the  Smiths — Recalled  by  Emma  Smith — They  surrender  and  are 
assassinated  in  jail. 

THE  explosion  was  ;it  hand — the  inevitable  explosion.  It 
was  to  come  substantially  as  at  Kirtland  and  in  Missouri — 
an  angi\  pressure  from  without  correlative  with  schism  and 
apostasy  in  the  church.  July  12th,  1843,  the  Prophet  received 
the  "  Revelation  concerning  Celestial  Marriage,"  i.  e.,  poly- 
gamy; and  William  Clayton  wrote  it  down  as  dictated.  It 
was  high  time  some  celestial  warrant  was  had  for  the  Prophet's 
proceedings,  and  the  revelation  produced  the  desired  effect. 
Hyrum  Smith  was  at  once  convinced  and  took  two  extra  wives. 
Brigham  Young  gave  in  his  adhesion  next  and  soon  had  two 
more  wives.  Parley  P.  Pratt  and  Heber  C.  Kimball  were  not 
hard  to  convince,  and  in  a  little  while  the  principal  men  were: 
initiated.  But  when  the  matter  was  first  broached  in  the  High 
Council,  William  Law  rose  and  said,  "If  any  man  teaches  that 
doctrine  in  my  family,  I  will  have  that  man's  life!"  Law  had 
a  young  and  beautiful  wife  whom  Smith  was  even  then 
scheming  for;  his  failure  led  to  the  final  catastrophe  and  Law's 
prediction  was  not  long  unfulfilled,,  But  more  than  all  else 
the  statements  of  ladies  escaping  from  Xauvoo  excited  popular 
wrath.  Most  noted  of  these  was  a  beautiful  English  girl 
named  Martha  Brotherton,  who  was  "  presented  "  by  the  Pro- 
phet to  an  elder  whose  infatuation  for  her  amounted  to  insanity, 
It  is  related  that  after  repeated  repulses  he  even  forced  his  way 
to  her  presence  when  preparing  for  departure  and  implored  her 
to  remain,  but  in  vain.  During  all  this  time  the  Mormoi* 


76 


POLYGAMY;     OR,    THE    MYSTERIES 


papers  and  missionaries  were  spreading  the  most  emphatic 
denials  of  polygamy,  and  public  affairs  were  progressing,  ao- 
cording  to  Governor  Ford's  account,  as  follows: 


MARTHA   BROTHERTON'S  DEFIANCE. 


"  Owners  of  property  stolen  in  other  counties  made  pursuit 
into  Nativoo,  and  were  fined  by  the  Mormon  courts  for  daring 
to  seek  their  property  in  the  holy  city.  To  one  such  I  granted 
a  pardon.  Several  of  the  Mormons  had  been  convicted  of  lar- 


AND   CRIMES   OF   MORMONISM.  77 

ceny,  and  they  never  failed  in  any  instance  to  procure  petitions 
signed  by  1,500  or  2,000  of  their  friends  for  their  pardon. 
To  crown  the  whole  folly  of  the  Mormons,  in  the  spring  of 
1844,  Smith  announced  himself  as  a  candidate  for  President  of 
the  United  States.  His  followers  were  confident  that  he  would 
be  elected.  Two  or  three  thousand  missionaries  were  immedi- 
ately sent  out  to  preach  their  religion,  and  to  electioneer  in 
favor  of  their  prophet  for  the  Presidency.  This  folly  at  once 
covered  that  people  with  ridicule  in  the  minds  of  all  sensible 
men,  and  brought  them  into  conflict  with  the  zealots  and  bigots 
of  all  political  parties;  as  the  arrogance  and  extravagance  of 
their  religious  pretensions  had  already  aroused  the  opposition 
of  all  other  denominations  in  religion.  It  seems,  from  the  best 
information  that  could  be  got  from  the  best  men  who  had 
seceded  from  the  Mormon  church,  that  Smith  about  this  time 
conceived  the  idea  of  making  himself  a  temporal  prince  as  well 
as  spiritual  leader  of  his  people.  He  instituted  a  new  and 
select  order  of  the  priesthood,  the  members  of  which  were  to  be 
-»riests  and  kings  temporally  and  spiritually.  These  were  to  be 
tis  nobility,  who  were  to  be  the  upholders  of  his  throne.  He 
Caused  himself  to  be  crowned  and  anointed  king  and  priest,  far 
above  the  rest ;  and  he  prescribed  the  form  of  an  oath  of  alle- 
giance to  himself,  which  he  administered  to  his  principal  fol- 
lowers. To  uphold  his  pretensions  to  royalty,  he  deduced  his 
descent  by  an  unbroken  chain  from  Joseph,  the  son  of  Jacob, 
and  that  of  his  wife  from  some  other  renc  >vned  personage  of  Old 
Testament  history.  The  Mormons  openly  denounced  the  gov- 
ernment of  the  United  States  as  utterly  corrupt,  and  as  being 
about  to  pass  away,  and  to  be  replaced  by  the  government  of 
God,  to  be  administered  by  his  servant  Joseph. 

"Soon  after  these  institutions  were  established,  Smith  began 
to  play  the  tyrant  over  several  of  his  followers.  The  first  act 
of  this  sort  which  excited  attention  was  an  attempt  to  take  the 
wife  of  William  Law,  one  of  his  most  talented  and  principal 
disciples,  and  make  her  a  spiritual  wife.  By  means  of  his  Com- 
mon Council,  without  the  authority  of  law,  he  established  a 
recorder's  office  in  Nauvoo,  in  which  alone  the  titles  of  property 


78  POLYGAMY;     OR,    THK    MYSTERIES 


could  be  recorded.  In  the  same  manner  and  with  the  same 
want  of  legal  authority,  he  established  an  office  for  issuing  mar 
riage  licenses  to  Mormons,  so  as  to  give  him  absolute  control 
of  the  marrying  propensities  of  his  people.  He  proclaincd  that 
none  in  the  city  should  purchase  real  estate  to  sell  again,  but 
himself.  He  also  permitted  no  one  but  himself  to  have  a 
license  in  the  city  for  the  sale  of  spirituous  liquors;  and  in 
many  other  ways  ho  undertook  to  regulate  and  control  the 
Imsiness  of  the  Mormons.  This  despotism,  administered  by  a 
corrupt  and  unprincipled  man,  soon  became  intolerable.  Wil- 
liam Law,  one  of  the  most  eloquent  preachers  of  the  Mormons, 
Wilson  Law,  his  brother,  Major-General  of  the  Legion,  and 
four  or  five  other  Mormon  leaders,  resolved  upon  a  rebellion 
against  the  authority  of  the  Prophet.  They  designed  to  en- 
lighten their  brethren  and  fellow-citizens  upon  the  new  institu- 
tions, the  new  turn  given  to  Mormonism,  and  the  practices 
under  the  n»  .  by  procuring  a  printing-press  and  estab- 

lishing a  newspaper  in  the  city,  to  be  the  organ  of  their  com- 
plaints and  vi 

This  paper  was  the  celebrated  Expositor:  a  name  hateful  to 
Mormons.  But  its  fate  and  the  consequent  tragedy  has  no 
doubt  deterred  the  Saints  many  a  time  from  mobbing  the  Gen- 
tile paper  in  Utah.  The  first  issue  contained  the  statements  of 
-ixteen  women  that  Joseph  Smith  or  other  Mormon  leaders  had 
attempted  to  seduce  them  under  plea  of  heavenly  permission  to 
do  so.  The  reader  must  imagine  the  uproar  which  followed  : 
pen  cannot  portray  it.  A  large  number  of  Mormon  men  and 
women  had  previously  joined  in  a  statement  that  they  knew 
no  other  system  of  marriage  than  that  common  among  Chris- 
tians. Several  of  these  have  since  lx>asted  that  they  were  even 
then  in  polygamy,  and  laughed  at  the  trick  played  on  the  Gen- 
tiles. They  justify  this  and  all  the  other  lies  told  during  that 
time  by  the  statement  that  outsiders  were  peering  into  what  war- 
none  of  their  business,  and  in  Mich  a  case  the  ungodly  must  be 
deceived  for  the  good  of  the  Saints.  The  lies  Abraham  told  in 
pt.  and  the  answer  Chri-  Mes  were  to  make  to  the 

man  who  might  ask  why  th^y  T«»<>k  the  stranger's  beast,  are  oft 


AND   CHIMES   OF    MORMONISM.  79 

cited  precedents  in  Utah.  Abraham  is,  indeed,  the  great 
Mormon  model,  and  Abraham  married  his  sister  and  lied 
about  it.  But  all  these  things  did  not  convince  outsiders,  and 
in  holy  wrath  the  Prophet  and  apostles  decided  to  destroy  the 
Expositor  office. 

The  Common  Council  met,  and  went  through  the  form  of  a 
trial  without  summoning  either  publishers  or  editors!  The 
proceeding  was  partly  civil  and  partly  ecclesiastical,  against  the 
press  itself.  No  jury  was  called  or  sworn,  nor  were  the  wit- 
nesses required  to  give  their  evidence  upon  oath.  The  coun- 
cillors stood  up  one  after  another,  and  some  of  them  several 
times,  and  related  what  they  pretended  to  know.  In  this  mode 
it  was  abundantly  proved  that  the  owners  were  sinners,  thieves, 
swindlers,  counterfeiters,  and  robbers;  the  evidence  of  which  is 
reported  in  the  trial  at  full  length.  It  was  altogether  the  most 
curious  and  irregular  trial  ever  recorded  in  any  civilized 
country;  and  resulted  in  the  conviction  of  the  press  as  a  public 
nuisance.  The  Mayor  was  ordered  to  see  it  abated  as  such,  and 
if  necessary  to  call  the  Legion  to  his  assistance.  The  Mayor 
issued  his  warrant  to  the  City  Marshal,  who,  aided  by  a  portion 
of  the  Legion,  proceeded  to  the  obnoxious  printing-office,  and 
destroyed  the  press,  and  scattered  the  types  and  other  mate- 
rials. At  the  same  time  most  of  the  Gentiles  and  apostates  in 
the  city  fled  for  safety,  being  outrageously  insulted  and  threat- 
ened with  death. 

As  they  fled  they  spread  exaggerated  reports,  and  mobs  as- 
sembled in  all  directions.  Dr.  Foster,  Elias  Higher,  William 
and  Wilson  Law,  and  other  apostates  fled  to  (•art huge,  the 
county  seat  of  Hancock  and  a  Gentile  town,  where  they  pro- 
cured warrants  for  the  Mayor  and  members  of  the  Common 
Council,  and  others  engaged  in  the  outrage,  for  a  riot.  Some 
of  those  were  arrested,  but  were  immediately  taken  before  the 
Municipal  Court  of  the  city  on  habeas  corpus,  and  discharged 
from  custody.  The  county  authorities  at  once  called  for  a  posse, 
comitatus  to  enforce  the  writs;  militia  began  to  assemble,  tin 
Mormons  armed,  and  Hancock  county  was  divided  in  two  great 
hostile  camps.  Messengers  hastened  to  Springfield,  and  01 


80  POLYGAMY;    OR,    THE    MYSTERIES 

their  representation  Governor  Ford  started  for  the  scene  of 
trouble,  reaching  Carthage  June  21st.  Let  him  relate  what  he 
did: 

"  I  found  an  armed  force,  hourly  increasing,  under  the 
<ummons  and  direction  of  the  constables  of  the  county,  to  serve 
a-  a  posse  comitatus  to  assist  in  the  execution  of  process.  The 
general  of  the  brigade  had  also  called  for  the  militia,  en  masse, 
of  the  counties  of  McDonough  and  Schuyler,  for  a  similar  pur- 
pose. Another  assemblage  to  a  considerable  number  had  been 
made  at  Warsaw  under  military  command  of  Colonel  Levi 
\Villiams.  The  first  thing  which  I  did  on  my  arrival  was  to 
place  all  the  militia  then  assembled,  and  which  were  expected 
to  assemble,  under  military  command  of  their  proper  officers. 
I  next  dispatched  a  messenger  to  Xauvoo,  informing  the  Mayor 
and  the  Common  Council  of  the  nature  of  the  complaint  made 
against  them ;  and  requested  that  persons  might  be  sent  to  me 
to  lay  their  side  of  the  question  before  me  A  Committee  was 
accordingly  sent,  who  made  such  acknowledgments  that  I  had 
no  difficulty  in  concluding  what  were  the  facts;  and  as  their 
action  had  touched  the  liberty  of  the  press,  justly  dear  to  a  free 
people,  it  was  well  calculated  to  raise  a  great  flame  of  excite- 
ment. It  is  plain  that  the  Mormon  leaders  but  little  under- 
stood and  less  regarded  the  principles  of  civil  liberty. 

"  Many  other  statements  were  in  circulation,  and  generally 
believed  by  the  people,  and  unfortunately  there  were  many 
known  truths  which  gave  countenance  to  some  of  these  accusa- 
tions. It  was  sufficiently  proved  in  a  proceeding  at  Carthage 
whilst  I  was  there,  that  Joe  Smith  had  sent  a  band  of  his  fol- 
lowers to  Missouri,  to  kidnap  two  men  who  were  witnesses 
against  a  member  of  his  church  then  in  jail,  about  to  be  tried 
on  a  charge  of  larceny.  It  was  also  a  notorious  fact  that  he 
had  assaulted  and  severely  beaten  an  officer  of  the  county,  for 
an  alleged  non-performance  of  his  duty,  at  a  time  when  that 
officer  was  just  recovering  from  a  severe  illness.  It  is  a  fact 
also,  that  he  stood  indicted  for  the  crime  of  perjury,  as  was 
alleged,  in  swearing  to  an  accusation  for  murder,  in  order  to 
drive  a  man  out  of  Nauvoo,  who  had  been  engaged  in  buying 


AND    CRIMES    OF    MORMON  ISM.  81 

and  selling  lots  and  land,  and  thus  interfering  with  the  mo- 
nopoly of  the  Prophet  as  a  speculator.  It  is  a  fact  also,  that 
his  Municipal  Court,  of  which  he  was  Chief  Justice,  by  writ  of 
habeas  corpus,  had  frequently  discharged  individuals  accused 
of  high  crimes  and  offences  against  the  laws  of  the  State ;  and 
on  one  occasion  had  discharged  a  person  accused  of  swindling 
the  Government  of  the  United  States,  who  had  been  arrested 
by  process  of  the  Federal  Courts;  thereby  giving  countenance 
to  the  report,  that  he  obstructed  the  administration  of  justice, 
and  had  set  up  a  government  at  Nauvoo,  independent  of  the 
laws  and  government  of  the  State. 

"Another  cause  of  excitement  was  a  report  industriously 
circulated,  and  generally  believed,  that  Hyrum  Smith,  another 
leader  of  the  Mormon  church,  had  offered  a  reward  for  the 
destruction  of  the  press  of  the  'Warsaw  Signal/  a  newspaper 
published  in  the  county,  and  the  organ  of  the  opposition  to  the 
Mormons.  It  was  also  asserted,  that  the  Mormons  scattered 
through  the  settlements  of  the  county,  had  threatened  all  per- 
sons who  turned  out  to  assist  the  constables,  with  the  destruc- 
tion of  their  property  and  the  murder  of  their  families,  in  the 
absence  of  their  fathers,  brothers  and  husbands.  A  Mormon 
woman  in  McDonough  county  was  imprisoned  for  threatening 
to  poison  the  wells  of  the  people  who  turned  out  in  the  posse; 
and  a  Mormon  in  Warsaw  publicly  avowed  that  he  was  bound 
by  his  religion  to  obey  all  orders  of  the  Prophet,  even  to  com- 
mit murder,  if  so  commanded.  But  the  great  cause  of  popular 
fury  was,  that  the  Mormons  at  several  preceding  elections  had 
cast  their  vote  as  a  unit;  thereby  making  the  fact  apparent, 
that  no  one  could  aspire  to  the  honors  or  offices  of  the  country 
within  the  sphere  of  their  influence,  without  their  approbation 
and  votes. 

"Seeing  the  tendency  to  mob  violence,  I  called  together  the 
whole  force  then  assembled  at  Carthage,  and  made  an  address, 
explaining  to  them  what  I  could,  and  what  I  could  not,  legally 
do ;  and  also  adducing  to  them  various  reasons  why  they  as 
well  as  the  Mormons  should  submit  to  the  laws ;  and  why,  if 
they  had  resolved  on  revolutionary  proceedings,  their  purpose 


82  roj.YGAMY  ;  OK,  THE  MYSTEKIKS 

should  be  abandoned.  The  assembled  troops  seemed  much 
pleased  with  tin-  address;  and  upon  its  conclusion,  the  officers 
and  m«'n  unanimously  voted,  with  acclamation,  to  sustain  me  in 
:i  strictly  legal  course,  and  that  the  prisoners  should  be  pro- 
tected from  violence.  Upon  the  arrival  of  additional  forces 
from  Warsaw,  McDonough  and  Schuvler,  similar  addresses 
were  made,  with  the  same  result. 

"It  seemed  to  me  that  these  votes  fully  authorized  me  to 
promi-e  the  accused  Mormons  the  protection  of  the  law  in  case 
they  surrendered.  They  were-  accordingly  duly  informed  that 
it'  thev  surrendered  they  would  be  protected,  and  if  they  did 
not,  the  whole  force  of  the  State  would  be  called  out,  if  neces- 
sarv,  to  compel  their  submission.  A  force  of  ten  men  was  de- 
spatched with  the  constable  to  make  the  arrests,  and  to  guard 
the  prisoners  to  headquarters. 

"In  the  meantime  Smith,  as  Lieutenant-General  of  the  Xau- 
voo  Legion,  had  declared  martial  law  in  the  city;  the  legion 
was  assembled,  and  ordered  under  arms;  the  members  of  it 
residing  in  the  country  were  ordered  into  town.  The  Mormon 
settlements  obeyed  the  summons  of  their  leader,  and  marched 
to  his  assistance.  Xauvoo  was  one  great  military  camp, 
strictly  guarded  and  watched  ;  and  no  ingress  or  egress  was 
allowed  except  upon  the  strictest  examination.  In  one  in- 
stance, which  came  to  my  knowledge,  a  citizen  of  McDonough. 
who  happened  to  be  in  the  city,  was  denied  the  privilege  of 
returning,  until  he  made  oath  that  he  did  not  belong  to  the 
party  at  Carthage,  that  he  would  return  home  without  calling 
at  Carthage,  and  that  he  would  give  no  information  of  the 
movements  of  the  Mormons. 

"  However,  upon  the  arrival  of  the  constable  and  guard,  the 
mavor  and  common  council  at  once  signified  their  willingness 

-urrender,  and  stated  their  readiness  to  proceed  to  Carthage 
next  morning  at  eight  o'clock.  Martial  law  had  previously 
been  abolished.  The  hour  of  eight  o'clock  came,  and  the 
accused  failed  to  make  their  appearance.  The  constable  and 
his  escort  returned.  The  constable  made  no  effort  to  arrest 
any  of  them,  nor  would  he  or  the  guard  delay  their  departure 


AND    CRIMES   OF   MORMON  ISM.  83 

one  minute  beyond  the  time,  to  see  whether  an  arrest  could  be 
made.  Upon  their  return,  they  reported  that  they  had  been 
informed  that  the  accused  had  fled,  and  could  not  be  found. 
In  the  meantime,  I  made  a  requisition  upon  the  officers  of  the 
Xauvoo  Legion  for  the  State  arms  in  their  possession.  I  did 
this  on  account  of  the  great  prejudice  and  excitement  which 
the  possession  of  these  arms  by  the  Mormons  had  always  kin- 
dled in  the  minds  of  the  people.  A  large  portion  of  the  peo- 
ple, by  pure  misrepresentation,  had  been  made  to  believe  that 
the  legion  had  received  from  the  State  as  many  as  thirty  pieces 
of  artillery  and  five  or  six  thousand  stands  of  small  arms, 
which,  in  all  probability,  would  soon  be  wielded  for  the  con- 
quest of  the  country,  and  for  their  subjection  to  Mormon 
domination." 

Thus  far  the  governor.  Now  let  us  see  what  the  other  party 
was  doing.  When  the  calmness  of  night  descended  on  the 
tumults  of  Nauvoo,  with  constable  and  posse  waiting  to  take 
the  Prophet  and  his  friends  as  prisoners  to  Carthage  next  day, 
with  full  knowledge  that  law  and  government  were  now 
against  them,  came  sober  thoughts  to  the  Mormons.  A  coun- 
cil was  called  and  flight  resolved  upon  ;  Joseph,  Hyrum  and  a 
few  others  crossed  the  river,  intending  either  to  seek  a  new 
home  for  the  Saints  in  the  far  West,  or  to  go  East  and  remain 
till  the  excitement  was  over.  Then  a  strange  thing  happened. 
Mrs.  Emma  Smith,  who  had  no  faith  whatever  in  her  hus- 
band's prophetic  claims,  advised  and  assisted  by  Councillor 
William  Marks,  wrote  a  reproachful  letter  to  Joseph  and 
Hyrum,  in  which  she  called  them  cowardly  shepherds  who  had 
left  the  sheep  in  danger  and  fled.  This  incident  rests  upon  the 
testimony  of  Joseph  H.,  son  of  Hyrum  Smith,  now  an  apostle 
at  Salt  Lake,  who  adds :  "  When  Joseph  saw  that  letter  his 
great  heart  almost  bursted  and  he  said,  'If  that's  all  my  wife 
and  friends  cure  for  my  life,  then  I  don't  care  for  it,'  and  re- 
turned and  gave  himself  up.  His  blood  rests  upon  William 
Marks,  and  that  woman  Emma  Smith  ;  and  there  it  will  rest 
till  it  is  burned  off  in  the  fires  of  hell  !" 

On  the  24tli  of  June  all  the  accused  came  to  Carthage,  sur 


84  POLYGAMY;   OR,  THE  MYSTERIES 

rendered  and  were  held  to  bail;  but  immediately  after  two 
men,  named  Spencer  and  Norton,  swore  out  fresh  warrants 
against  the  two  Smiths  for  treason,  and  they  were  at  once  re- 
arrested  and  committed  to  jail — treason  not  being  a  bailable 
offense.  Governor  Ford  protested,  but  the  justice  was  acting 
within  his  own  jurisdiction  and  was  as  independent  of  the  gov- 
ernor as  of  any  one  else.  The  treason  charged  was  "  levying 
war  against  the  State  of  Illinois,"  that  is,  calling  out  the  legion 
to  resist  arrest.  Conviction  would  have  been  very  doubtful  on 
such  a  charge.  Governor  Ford  now  took  the  unwise  course  of 
disbanding  the  most  turbulent  part  of  the  militia,  which,  in 
tact,  turned  it  into  a  mob,  and  leaving  Carthage.  But  he  ii> 
sists  that  he  did  so  only  after  the  most  solemn  assurances  of  the 
militia  that  they  would  protect  the  prisoners ;  and  now  he  is 
entitled  to  be  heard  in  his  own  account: 

"I  dispatched  Captain  Singleton  with  his  company,  from 
Brown  countv,  to  Nauvoo  to  guard  the  town  ;  and  I  authorized 
him  to  take  command  of  the  legion.  He  reported  to  me  after- 
wards, that  he  called  out  the  legion  for  inspection;  and  that, 
upon  two  hours'  notice,  two  thousand  of  them  assembled,  all 
of  them  armed  ;  and  this  after  the  public  arms  had  been  taken 
away  from  them.  So  it  appears  that  they  had  a  sufficiency  of 
private  arms  for  any  reasonable  purpose. 

"  The  jail  in  which  the  Smiths,  with  two  of  their  friends,  were 
confined,  is  a  considerable  stone  building;  containing  a  resi- 
dence for  the  jailor,  cells  for  the  close  and  secure  confinement 
of  prisoners,  and  one  larger  room  not  so  strong,  but  more  airy 
and  comfortable  than  the  cells.  They  were  put  into  the  cells 
by  the  jailor;  but  upon  their  remonstrance  and  request,  and  by 
my  advice,  they  were  transferred  to  the  larger  room ;  and  there 
they  remained  until  the  final  catastrophe.  Neither  they  nor  I 
seriously  apprehended  an  attack  on  the  jail,  through  the  guard 
-rationed  to  protect  it.  Nor  did  I  apprehend  the  least  danger 
«>n  their  part  of  an  attempt  to  escape.  For  I  was  very  sure 
that  any  such  attempt  would  have  been  the  signal  of  their  im- 
mediate death.  The  force  assembled  at  Carthage  amounted  to 
about  twelve  or  thirteen  hundred  men,  and  it  was  calculated 


AND   CRIMES   OF   MORMONISM.  85 

that  four  or  five  hundred  more  were  assembled  at  Warsaw. 
Nearly  all  that  portion  resident  in  Hancock  were  anxious  to  be 
marched  into  Nauvoo.  This  measure  was  supposed  to  be 
necessary,  to  search  for  counterfeit  money  and  the  apparatus  to 
make  it,  and  also  to  strike  a  salutary  terror  into  the  Mormon 
people,  by  an  exhibition  of  the  force  of  the  State,  and  thereby 
prevent  future  outrages,  murders,  robberies,  burnings,  and  the 
like,  apprehended  as  the  effect  of  Mormon  vengeance  on  those 
who  had  taken  a  part  against  them.  On  my  part,  at  one  time, 
this  arrangement  was  agreed  to.  The  morning  of  the  27th 
day  of  June  was  appointed  for  the  march;  and  Golden's  Point, 
near  the  Mississippi  river,  and  about  equidistant  from  Nauvoo 
and  Warsaw,  was  selected  as  the  place  of  rendezvous.  I  had 
determined  to  prevail  on  the  Justice  to  bring  out  his  prisoners, 
and  take  them  along.  A  council  of  officers,  however,  deter- 
mined that  this  would  be  highly  inexpedient  and  dangerous, 
and  offered  such  substantial  reasons  for  their  opinions  as  in- 
duced me  to  change  my  resolution.  I  gradually  learned  to  my 
entire  satisfaction,  that  there  was  a  plan  to  get  the  troops  inty 
Nauvoo,  and  there  to  begin  the  war,  probably  by  some  of  our 
owTn  party,  or  some  of  the  seceding  Mormons,  taking  advantage 
of  the  night  to  fire  on  our  own  force,  and  then  laying  it  to  the 
Mormons.  But  such  was  the  blind  fury  prevailing  at  the  time, 
though  not  showing  itself  by  much  visible  excitement,  that  a 
small  majority  of  the  council  adhered  to  the  first  resolution  of 
marching  into  Nauvoo;  most  of  the  officers  of  the  Schuyler 
and  McDonough  militia  voting  against  it,  and  most  of  those 
of  the  county  of  Hancock  voting  in  its  favor.  I  decided  not 
to  accept  the  decision  of  the  officers;  on  the  contrary,  I  ordered 
the  troops  to  be  disbanded,  both  at  Carthage  and  Warsaw,  with 
the  exception  of  three  companies,  two  of  which  were  retained 
as  a  guard  to  the  jail,  and  the  other  to  accompany  me  to 
Nauvoo.  I  ordered  two  companies  under  the  command  of 
Captain  K.  F.  Smith,  of  the  Carthage  Grays,  to  guard  the  jail. 
Though  the  Grays  were  very  hostile  to  the  Mormons  I  trusted 
them  because  I  knew  their  Captain  was  universally  spoken  of 
as  a  respectable  citizen  and  honorable  man.  The  company 


S(j  POLYGAM\  ;    OH,    THE    MYSTERIES 

itself  was  an  old  independent  company,  well-armed,  uniformed 
and  drilled;  and  the  members  of  it  were  the  elite  of  the  militia 
of  the  countv.  I  relied  upon  this  company  especially,  because 
it  was  an  independent  company,  for  a  long  time  instructed  and 
practiced  in  military  discipline  and  subordination.  I  also  had 
their  word  of  honor,  officers  and  men,  that  they  would  do 
their  duty  according  to  la\v.  Besides  all  this  the  officers  and 
most  of  the  men  resided  in  Carthage,  and  in  the  near  vicinity 
of  Nauvoo;  and,  as  I  thought,  must  know  that  they  would 
make  themselves  and  their  property  convenient  and  conspicuous 
marks  of  Mormon  vengeance,  in  case  they  were  guilty  of 
treachery.  So,  having  ordered  the  guard  and  left  General 
Deming  in  command  and  discharged  the  residue  of  the  militia, 
I  immediately  departed  for  Nauvoo,  eighteen  miles  distant, 
accompanied  by  Colonel  Buck  master,  Quartermaster-General, 
and  Captain  Dunn's  company  of  dragoons. 

"  We  arrived  at  Xauvoo  about  4  o'clock  of  the  afternoon  of 
the  27th  day  of  June.  As  soon  as  notice  could  be  given,  a 
crowd  assembled  to  hear  an  address.  I  stated  to  them  how 
their  functionaries  had  violated  the  laws.  Also,  the  many 
scandalous  reports  in  circulation  against  them,  and  that  these 
reports,  whether  true  or  false,  were  generally  believed  by  the 
people.  I  distinctly  stated  to  them  the  amount  of  hatred  and 
prejudice  which  prevailed  everywhere  against  them,  and  the 
causes  of  it,  at  length.  I  also  told  them  plainly  and  emphati- 
cally, that  if  any  vengeance  should  be  attempted,  openly  or 
secretly,  against  the  persons  or  property  of  the  citizens  who 
had  taken  part  against  their  leaders,  that  the  public  hatred  and 
excitement  were  such,  that  thousands  would  assemble  for  tin- 
total  destruction  of  their  city  and  the  extermination  of  their 
people;  and  that  no  power  in  the  State  would  be  able  to  pre- 
vent it.  During  this  address  some  impatience  and  resentment 
were  manifested  by  the  Mormons,  at  the  recital  of  the  various 
reports  enumerated  concerning  them,  which  they  strenuously 
and  indignantly  denied  to  be  true.  They  claimed  to  be  a  law- 
abiding  people,  and  insisted  that  as  they  looked  to  the  law- 
alone  for  their  protection  so  were  they  careful  themselves  to 


AND    CRIMES   OF    MORMONISM.  87 

observe  its  provisions.  Upon  the  conclusion  of  this  address,  I 
proposed  to  take  a  vote  on  the  question  whether  they  would 
strictly  observe  the  laws,  even  in  opposition  to  their  Prophet  and 
leaders.  The  vote  was  unanimous  in  favor  of  this  proposition. 

"The  anti-Mormons  contended  that  such  a  vote  from  the 
Mormons  signified  nothing;  and  truly  the  subsequent  history 
of  that  people  showed  clearly  that  they  were  loudest  in  their 
professions  of  attachment  to  the  law,  when  they  were  guilty  of 
the  greatest  extravagances;  and  in  fact,  that  they  were  so  igno- 
rant and  stupid  about  matters  of  law,  that  they  had  no  means 
of  judging  of  the  legality  of  their  conduct,  only  as  they  were 
instructed  by  their  spiritual  leaders." 

Thus  far  the  governor  at  Nauvoo.  A  far  different  scene 
was  unfolding  at  Cartilage.  The  Prophet's  strange,  erratic 
course  was  run  and  his  young  and  lusty  life  was  soon  to  sink 
in  the  black  shadow  of  doom.  The  prisoners,  Joseph  and 
Hyrum  Smith,  John  Taylor  and  Willard  Richards,  felt  too 
plainly  the  forecast  of  death.  Eider  Taylor  sang  and  exerted 
himself  to  enliven  them,  but  in  vain.  One  of  the  departing 
brethren  had  slipped  a  revolver  into  Joseph's  hand;  they  relied 
on  this  as  a  possible  protection,  but  had  little  hope.  Near  sun- 
set, says  a  citizen  of  Carthage,  an  armed  force  of  about  one 
hundred  was  seen  approaching  the  jail.  All  the  militia  were 
at  a  distance  but  a  small  guard  of  eight  men;  these  were  over- 
powered, a  few  shots  being  fired  but  no  one  hurt,  and  the  mob 
was  in  possession.  They  filled  the  lower  room  and  after  brief 
hesitation  rushed  up  the  stairway.  From  the  landing  a  volley 
was  instantly  fired  through  the  door  into  the  prisoners'  apart- 
ment. One  of  these  random  shots  passed  through  the  panel 
with  force  sufficient  to  inflict  a  mortal  wound  on  the  person  of 
Hyrum  Smith,  from  which  he  instantly  expired.  The  Prophet 
discharged  his  weapon  three  times,  and  it  is  said,  each  time 
with  effect.  He  now  turned  to  an  open  window,  with  a  view 
to  escape,  but  the  mob  was  below  in  the  prison  yard  as  well  as 
around  him.  He  hesitated;  he  clutched  the  window-sill  to 
which  he  was  suspended,  and  cast  a  wild  and  imploring  look 
below.  A  volley  was  fired  by  the  unrelenting  mob,  and  the 
Prophet  fell  to  the  ground,  if  not  lifeless,  at  least  insensible. 


88  POLYGAMY. 

But  nothing  less  than  certainty  would  satisfy  the  raob.  One 
seized  the  body  and  lifted  it  into  a  sitting  posture  against  the 
well-curb,  when  four  others  advanced  till  their  rifles  almost 
touched  the  Prophet,  and  discharged  the  heavy  loads  directly 
into  his  bosom.  Then,  adds  the  Mormon  historian,  a  brawny 
Missourian,  with  blackened  face,  sprang  forward  knife  in  hand 
to  cut  off  the  Prophet's  head,  for  which  a  reward  had  been 
offered;  but  as  he  kneeled  upon  his  victim  a  flash  of  lightning 
from  the  clear  sky  darted  between  him  and  the  Prophet, 
blinded  him  and  knocked  the  knife  from  his  grasp.  Of 
course  no  Gentile  witness  saw  this. 

Thus  died  Joseph  Smith,  the  most  noted  impostor  of  modern 
times,  the  only  great  impostor  America  has  produced.  In  the 
short  space  of  fifteen  years  he  and  his  coadjutors  had  brought 
forth  a  new  Bible,  ordained  a  new  morality,  established  a  new 
or  eclectic  theology,  and  founded  a  church  with  missions  in  half 
the  civilized  world.  Yet  Joseph  was  but  thirty-nine  and 
Hyrum  forty-four  years  of  ag£.  Joseph  had  none  of  the  tricks 
of  assumed  sanctity  with  which  common  impostors  impress 
their  dupes ;  in  a  gathering  of  many  thousands  he  was  the  very 
last  man  whom  the  knowing  would  have  selected  as  a  probable 
religious  teacher.  Six  feet  high  and  uncommonly  well  muscled, 
with  a  slight  stoop  ordinarily,  a  long  but  retreating  forehead,  a 
singularly  unattractive  eye  and  decided  nasal  twang,  he  had  all 
the  rude  humors  and  gestures  which  usually  belong  to  the  un- 
taught man  of  that  type.  In  appetite  he  was  noticeably  gross, 
his  baser  passions  were  almost  ungovernably  fierce,  and  the  most 
devout  Mormons  never  seriously  deny  that  he  often  fell  into 
carnal  sin.  With  all  this  he  possessed  that  rude  energy,  and 
that  magnetic  power  over  ignorant  people,  especially  women, 
which  is  often  found  associated  with  this  temperament.  Enough 
is  known  to  show  that  his  evil  influence  was  great,  even  over 
good  women,  and  his  fierce  lusts  would  never  leave  him  free  to 
pursue  any  consistent  policy  for  the  good  of  his  church.  The 
strong  cravings  of  his  animal  nature  always  swayed  the  move- 
ments of  his  really  able  intellect.  He  never  could  choose  the 
greater  but  more  distant  good  in  preference  to  the  enticing  evil 
near  at  hand. 


DEATH  OF  JOSEPU  SMITH. 


(89) 


90  POLYGAMY. 

•  The  power  of  his  family  died  with  him.  His  brother  Samuel 
soon  followed  to  the  grave;  William  Smith  seceded  from  the 
Saints,  and  has  since  managed  to  maintain  a  happy  obscurity. 
His  widow,  Emma  Smith,  held  on  to  the  property,  was  quietly 
dropped  from  the  church  membership,  married  a  Major  Bida- 
inon,  and  was  long  the  landlady  of  the  Nauvoo  House,  at  which 
I  made  her  acquaintance  in  1872.  For  a  while  after  the 
Prophet's  death  she  made  no  secret  of  her  unbelief,  and  some 
years  after  published  a  card  in  the  Quincy  Whig,  in  which  she 
stated  that  she  always  had  considered  his  revelations  as  the  out- 
givings of  a  diseased  mind.  But  since  her  sons  attempted  to 
revive  the  church,  she  has  given  some  countenance  to  their 
claims.  The  sons  of  Hyruin  Smith  stand  high  in  the  Brigham- 
ite  church  in  Utah.  Strangely  enough,  Joseph  Smith  left,  as 
fur  as  can  be  ascertained,  no  polygamous  offspring,  though  it  wa> 
long  hinted  in  Utah  that  Joseph  A.  Young,  reputed  son  of  Brig- 
ham,  was  really  the  son  of  Joseph  Smith.  But  such  questions 
of  disputed  parentage  are  common  in  Utah,  and  their  solution 
presents  even  greater  difficulties  than  the  proverbial  needle  in  a 
hay-stack.  That  many  of  the  "spiritual  wives"  in  Nauvoo 
were  as  compliant  as  the  Prophet  was  urgent,  is  a  matter  too 
well  proved  for  doubt. 

Joseph  Smith  has  had  hosts  of  imitators,  in  the  Mormon 
church  even;  but  one  and  all  have  failed.  James  Strung. 
Lyman  Wight,  and  other  apostles,  and  since  their  day  Joseph 
Morris,  Gladden  Bishop,  Prophet  Davis,  Potter  Christ  and 
others  have  given  voluminous  revelations,  but  calamity  overtook 
their  little  congregations  before  they  grew  large  enough  to  in- 
terest the  world.  Nobody  could  wear  the  mantle  of  the  dead. 
Hud  he  lived  to  old  age,  or  even  into  middle  life,  Smith's  errors 
and  vices  would  have  disintegrated  his  church  ;  his  death  con- 
solidated it  just  in  the  shape  it  then  wu>.  It  took  several  year- 
to  hammer  the  mixed  mass  of  doctrines  into  shape,  but  it  wus 
done,  and  we  now  have  to  trace  the  history  of  a  peculiar  church 
which  takes  its  most  marked  features  from  the  embarrassing 
\  i'-es  and  crude  utterances,  often  for  a  specific  object,  of  one 
erratic  man. 


(91) 


92  POLYGAMY;    OR,    THE    MYSTERIES 


CHAPTER  VI. 

THE   MORMONS   EXPELLED   FROM   ILLINOIS. 

Funeral  of  the  Smiths — Remarkable  disposition  of  the  bodies — Arrest  and  trial 
of  those  accused  of  the  killing — Reconstruction  of  the  church — The  Twelve 
Apostles  take  the  reins — Murder  of  Miller  and  Leiza — "  Perfect  oneness  " — 
War  renewed — Murders  of  Worrall,  Wili-ox.  McBratney,  Durfee  and  Daub- 
eneyer — Iowa  and  Western  Illinois  combine  to  expel  the  Mormons — The 
"  Wolf-Hunters '' — Closing  scenes  of  war,  murder  and  misery — Gentile 
Nauvoo. 

GOVERNOR  FORD  and  party  were  well  on  their  return  to 
Carthage  when  runners  met  them  with  information  of  the 
Prophet's  death.  "The  news,"  says  the  governor,  "seemed  to 
strike  every  one  with  a  kind  of  dumbness.  I  anticipated  that 
an  exterminating  war  would  ensue,  and  therefore  took  the  two 
messengers  in  custody  back  to  Carthage,  in  order  to  gain  time. 
I  also  dispatched  messengers  to  Warsaw,  to  advise  the  citizens 
of  the  event.  But  the  people  there  knew  all  about  it,  and,  like 
myself,  feared  a  general  attack.  The  women  and  children  were 
moved  across  the  river,  and  a  committee  dispatched  that  night 
to  Quincy  for  assistance.  The  next  morning  by  daylight,  the 
ringing  of  the  bells  in  the  city  of  Quincy  announced  a  public 
meeting.  The  people  assembled  in  great  numbers.  The  War- 
saw committee  stated  to  the  meeting  that  a  party  of  Mormons 
had  attempted  to  rescue  the  Smiths  out  of  jail ;  that  a  party  of 
Missourians  and  others  had  killed  the  prisoners  to  prevent  their 
escape;  that  the  governor  and  his  party  were  at  Nauvoo  at  the 
time  when  intelligence  of  the  fact  was  brought  there;  that  they 
had  been  attacked  by  the  Nauvoo  Legion,  and  had  retreated  to 
a  house  where  they  were  then  closely  besieged.  That  the  gov- 
ernor had  sent  out  word  that  he  could  maintain  his  position  for 
two  :lavs,  and  would  be  certain  to  bo  massacred  if  assistance  did 


AND    CRIMES   OF    MORMONISM.  93 

not  arrive  by  the  end  of  that  time.  The  effect  of  this  was  that 
by  ten  o'clock  on  the  28th  of  June,  between  two  and  three 
hundred  men  from  Quincy,  under  command  of  Major  Flood, 
embarked  on  board  a  steamboat  for  Nauvoo,  to  assist  in  raising 
the  siege,  as  they  honestly  believed." 

The  panic  spread  rapidly.  Scarcely  had  the  Prophet  breathed 
his  last  when  the  mob  ran  in  all  directions,  spreading  the  news 
and  warning  the  people  of  Mormon  vengeance.  Carthage  was 
panic-stricken ;  the  Nauvoo  Legion,  4,000  strong,  was  hourly 
expected ;  horses,  buggies,  wagons  and  carts  crowded  the  high- 
way, going  in  full  speed  in  the  direction  from  Nauvoo,  while 
many  fled  on  foot  to  the  thickest  woods.  Stories  innumerable, 
both  affecting  and  ludicrous,  are  told  of  this  wild  flight.  The 
governor  had  indeed  acted  wisely  in  keeping  the  news  from  the 
Mormons  till  the  next  day.  John  Taylor,  now  president  of 
the  Mormon  church,  had  received  four  serious  wounds  by  the 
same  volley  which  killed  the  Smiths;  and  it  was  with  the  ut- 
most difficulty  he  and  Willard  Richards  could  induce  one  family 
to  remain  to  care  for  him  and  the  bodies  of  the  dead.  Among 
the  four  shots  which  struck  Taylor,  one  took  effect  in  the  back 
of  his  watch,  a  heavy  patent  lever,  stopping  the  hands  exactly 
at  5  o'clock,  16  minutes,  26  seconds,  which  is  now  marked  by 
the  Saints  as  the  "Solemn  hour  of  the  Prophet's  death."  The 
watch  is  still  preserved,  and  Taylor  long  carried  in  his  body  two 
balls  from  the  guns  of  the  mob. 

Early  next  morning,  June  28th,  Taylor,  Richards  and  Samuel 
H.  Smith  sent  a  joint  message  to  the  Saints  at  Nauvoo,  with 
news  of  the  tragedy  and  advice  :  "  Be  still — be  patient — wait 
on  the  Lord."  The  legion  was  at  once  mustered  and  addressed 
by  Colonel  Buckmaster,  the  governor's  aid,  and  others;  the 
troops  unanimously  pledged  good  order,  and  prepared  to  receive 
the  martyrs'  bodies.  At  least  10,000  people  turned  out  that 
afternoon,  received  the  sad  procession  with  great  lamentation, 
and  were  addressed  and  comforted  by  leading  Mormons. 
Joseph  was  now  canonized ;  all  his  errors  and  tyrannies 
seemed  to  be  obliterated  from  their  minds;  he  had  "sealed 
the  truth  with  his  blood,"  and  stood  henceforth  a  sainted 


94  POLYGAMY;     OR,    THE    MYSTERIES 

martyr.  The  spiritual  wives  of  the  dead  Prophet  filled  the 
city  with  their  cries,  but  his  lawful  wife  Emma  was  quiet  and 
resigned. 

The  coffins  were  committed  to  the  ground  with  imposing 
ceremonies:  but  the  bodies  of  Joseph  and  Hyrum  were  not  in 
that  funeral  procession  :  they  were  reserved  for  private  inter- 
ment. It  was  believed  that  there  were  persons  capable  of  rifling 
the  grave  in  order  to  obtain  the  head  of  the  murdered  Prophet 
tor  the  purpose  of  exhibiting  it  or  placing  it  in  some  phreno- 
logical museum.  This  proved  true,  for  the  place  where  the 
bodies  were  supposed  to  be  buried  was  disturbed  the  night  after 
the  interment.  The  coffins  had  been  filled  with  stones,  etc.,  to 
about  the  weight  which  the  bodies  would  have  been.  The  re- 
mains of  the  two  brothers  were  then  secretly  buried  the  same 
night  by  a  chosen  few  in  the  vaults  beneath  the  temple.  The 
ground  was  then  levelled,  and  pieces  of  rock  and  other  debris 
were  scattered  carelessly  over  the  spot.  But  even  this  was  not 
considered  a  sufficient  safeguard  against  any  violation  of  the 
dead,  and  on  the  following  night  a  still  more  select  number  ex- 
humed the  remains  and  buried  them  under  the  pathway  back  of 
Joseph's  residence.  The  bricks  of  the  walk  were  carefully  re- 
placed and  the  dirt  thrown  into  the  river.  Still  the  bones  of 
the  Prophet  and  Patriarch  were  not  at  rest;  for  after  a  sufficient 
time  these  were  taken,  up  by  the  family,  and  finally  deposited  at 
another  spot ;  though  Brigham  plead  earnestly  that  they  might 
be  laid  beneath  the  temple  at  Salt  Lake.  They  are  destined  to 
occupy  a  glorious  niche  in  the  great  temple  ii;  the  New  Jerusa- 
lem, or  Missouri  Zion  (Independence);  but  their  present  resting 
place  no  Brighamite  can  tell ! 

Governor  Ford  at  once  exerted  all  his  power  to  bring  the 
slayers  of  the  Smiths  to  justice.  Soon  an  important  witness 
appeared.  One  Daniels,  a  private  in  Colonel  Levi  Williams' 
regiment,  stated  that  when  the  editor  of  the  Warsaw  Signup 
Thomas  C.  Sharpe,  brought  dispatches  from  the  governor, 
ordering  the  disbandment  of  the  troops,  on  the  morning  of  the 
27th,  the  intelligence  created  great  excitement.  They  were 
clamorous  to  march  upon  Xauvoo,  and  were  already  a  few 


AND    CRIMES    OF    MOKMONISM.  95 

miles  on  their  way  to  that  place.  When  the  order  was  received, 
the  troops  were  formed  into  line  and  Sharpe  was  invited  to  ad- 
dress them.  This  Daniels  asserts  that,  in  his  speech,  Sharpe 
counselled  the  command  to  march  eastward  to  Carthage,  take 
the  jail  by  storm,  and  kill  the  Smiths;  that  the  governor  had 
already  gone  to  Nauvoo ;  and  that  the  Mormons,  upon  hearing 
of  the  deatli  of  the  Smiths,  would  kill  the  governor,  and  that 
they  would  then  be  rid  of  his  interference.  Volunteers  were 
called  for,  and  a  hundred  or  more  came  forward  at  once.  On 
this  evidence  indictments  were  found  by  the  grand  jury  against 
Levi  Williams,  Thomas  C.  Sharpe,  M.  Aldrich,  Jacob  C.  Davis, 
William  N.  Grover,  John  Allyer,  William  Davis,  John  Willis 
and  William  Gallagher,  for  the  murder  of  Joseph  and  Hyruin 
Smith.  The  governor  called  in  the  aid  of  the  attorney-general 
of  the  State  and  other  able  lawyers  to  assist  the  regular  prose- 
cuting attorney. 

Sharpe,  Grover,  Davis  and  Williams  were  arrested,  and  tried 
in  the  summer  of  1845.  Three  days  were  occupied  in  empan- 
elling a  jury  out  of  over  three  hundred  persons  summoned  ; 
and  the  trial  lasted  nine  days.  Daniels  had  in  the  meantime 
become  a  Mormon  and  published  the  account  before  alluded  to: 
that  he  saw  lightning  descend  from  heaven  to  save  the  dead 
Prophet  from  mutilation,  and  heard  supernatural  voices  in  the 
air  confirming  his  mission  !  Having  published  this  in  a  book, 
he  was  compelled  to  swear  to  it  in  court,  which  of  course  de- 
stroyed the  credit  of  his  evidence.  This  witness  was  afterwards 
expelled  from  the  Mormons,  but  they  still  cling  to  his  evidence 
in  favor  of  the  divine  mission  of  the  Prophet.  Many  other 
witnesses  were  examined  who  knew  the  facts,  but  denied  all 
knowledge  of  them.  So  the  accused  were  acquitted.  At  the 
next  term  the  Mormon  officials  were  tried,  and  acquitted,  for 
the  destruction  of  the  heretical  press.  It  appears  that,  not 
being  interested  in  objecting  to  the  sheriff  or  jury  selected  by  a 
court  elected  by  themselves,  they,  in  their  turn,  got  a  favorable 
jury  determined  upon  acquittal ;  and  yet  the  Mormon  jurors  all 
swore  that  they  had  formed  no  opinion  as  to  the  guilt  or  inno- 
cence of  their  accused  friends.  It  appeared  that  the  laws  fur 


9ti  POLYGAMY  ;    OR,    THE    MYSTERIES 

nished  the  means  of  suiting  each  party  with  a  jury.  The 
Mormons  could  have  a  Mormon  jury  to  be  tried  by,  selected  by 
themselves ;  and  the  anti-Mormons,  by  objecting  to  the  sheriff 
and  regular  panel,  could  have  one  from  the  anti-Mormons. 

Reaction  succeeded  the  killing  of  the  Smiths;  there  was  a 
truce  to  hostilities,  and  the  Mormon  leaders  hastened  to  recon- 
struct the  church.  The  Prophet  had  once  laid  hands  on  his  eldest 
son  Joseph  and  ordained  him  a  king  and  priest  in  his  stead, 
and  but  a  short  time  before  his  death  he  stated  that  "  the  man 
was  not  born  who  was  to  lead  this  people,  but  of  Emma  Smith 
— then  promising  him  an  heir — should  be  born  a  son  who  would 
succeed  in  the  presidency  after  a  season  of  disturbance."  This 
son,  named  from  his  father's  direction  David  Hyrum,  was  born 
at  the  Mansion  House,  on  the  17th  of  November  following,  and 
is  the  "son  of  promise"  whom  thousands  of  the  Mormons  still 
regard  as  the  predestined  leader  who  is  finally  to  bring  them 
back  to  Jackson  county. 

But  an  immediate  leader  was  needed.  Many  had  revelations 
that  Joseph  would,  like  the  Saviour,  rise  from  the  dead,  and 
some  reported  that  they  had  seen  him  coursing  the  air  on 
a  great  white  horse.  But  all  these  were  finally  condemned 
by  the  priesthood  as  "lying  revelations."  William  Smith,  the 
Prophet's  only  surviving  brother,  claimed  the  succession  on 
that  account.  Sidney  Rigdon,  who  was  one  of  the  first  presi- 
dency, from  his  peculiar  relations  to  the  church,  asserted  the 
strongest  claim.  James  Strang  had  an  immediate  revelation 
that  he  was  to  lead  the  people  into  Wisconsin.  Lyman  Wight 
received  a  divine  order  to  go  to  Texas,  and  Gladden  Bishop, 
John  E.  Page,  Cutler,  Hedrick,  Brewster  and  others  laid  in 
their  claims. 

On  the  15th  of  August,  the  Twelve  Apostles,  headed  by 
Brigham  Young,  addressed  a  letter  "  To  all  the  Saints  in  the 
world,"  and  the  7th  of  October  the  Saints  of  Nauvoo  and 
vicinity  met  in  council  to  determine  who  should  take  control. 
Brigham  had  been  absent  in  Boston,  and  Rigdon,  very  busy 
among  the  people,  had  succeeded  in  getting  a  special  convention 
called  ;  but  Brigham  arrived  the  very  day  of  the  meeting,  and 


UNITED  STATES  SENATOR   REED  SMOOT 

THE    MORMON    APOSTLE 


AND   CRIMES  OF   MORMONI8M.  97 

signally  defeated  Rigdon.  The  people  voted  that  the  govern- 
ment should  for  the  present  be  in  the  quorum  of  the  Twelve 
Apostles,  which  was  in  effect  making  Brigham  chief  ruler. 
The  next  day  Brigham  made  a  savage  address  against  Sydney 
Rigdon,  who,  meanwhile,  had  a  revelation  that  all  the  wealthy 
members  were  to  follow  him  to  western  Pennsylvania,  and  es- 
tablish a  new  "  stake  "  for  the  others  to  gather  to !  Brigham 
then  denounced  Rigdon  and  all  his  revelations  as  from  the 
devil,  and  moved  that  he  be  "cut  off."  Nearly  a  hundred 
voted  in  the  negative,  when  it  was  immediately  resolved  they 
were  "  in  a  spirit  of  apostasy,"  and  they  were  "  cut  off."  It 
was  then  proposed  and  unanimously  carried,  that  "all  who 
should  hereafter  defend  Rigdon  should  be  cut  off,"  which  ended 
the  so-called  election.  Rigdon  took  a  small  band  to  Pennsyl- 
vania, and  most  of  the  other  aspirants  also  took  off  various 
sects,  known  in  the  Brighamite  church  as  "  Gladdenites," 
" Strangites,"  " Brewsterites,"  " Cutlerites,"  "Gatherers,"  etc. 
Most  of  these  sects  have  fallen  to  pieces.  The  Times  and 
Seasons,  a  weekly  periodical,  had  been  established  at  Nauvoo 
soon  after  its  settlement,  and  in  the  fifth  volume  may  be  found 
a  full  account  of  these  curious  trials. 

Brigham  Young  now  took  entire  control,  hastened  the  com- 
pletion of  the  upper  rooms  of  the  Temple,  and  hurried  the 
people  through  their  "  endowments."  These  consist  of  a  mys- 
tical ceremony  representing  the  various  stages  in  man's  "pro- 
gress, during  which  the  candidates  are  initiated  and  passed  to 
the  various  degrees  of  the  priesthood,  and  sworn  to  obey  all 
orders  of  their  superiors.  Thus  the  people  were  bound  to 
Brigham  by  oaths  which  they  shuddered  to  recall :  they  feared 
him  as  they  had  never  feared  Smith,  but  could  not  love  him 
with  the  same  clinging  devotion.  It  Was  well  that  he  consoli- 
dated his  power  so  rapidly,  for  the  Anti-Mormon  War  soon  re- 
vived with  increased  bitterness. 

During  the  autumn  of  1844,  the  anti-Mormon  leaders  sent 
printed  invitations  to  all  the  militia  captains  in  Hancock,  and 
to  the  captains  of  militia  in  all  the  neighboring  counties  in  Illi- 
nois, Iowa,  and  Missouri,  to  be  present  with  their  companies  at 
7 


98  POLYGAMY. 

a  great  wolf  hunt  in  Hancock ;  and  it  was  privately  announced 
that  the  wolves  to  be  hunted  were  the  Mormons,  and  "Jack- 
Mormons.  Preparations  were  made  for  assembling  several 
thousand  men,  with  provisions  for  six  days ;  and  the  anti- 
Mormon  newspapers,  in  aid  of  the  movement,  commenced 
anew  the  most  awful  accounts  of  thefts  and  robberies,  and  med- 
itated outrages  by  the  Mormons.  The  Whig  press  in  even- 
part  of  the  United  States  came  to  their  assistance.  But  Gov- 
ernor Ford  hastily  raised  five  hundred  militia:  men  from  a 
distance  and  not  infected  with  the  local  feeling.  With  these 
he  reached  Hancock,  October  25,  whereupon  the  "Wolf- 
hunters  "  abandoned  their  design  and  fled  to  Missouri,  or  to 
the  neighboring  counties  of  Illinois. 

The  year  1845  opened  with  worse  troubles  than  ever.  Sev- 
eral most  atrocious  murders  were  committed — one  specially 
atrocious  of  a  land-speculator  near  Nauvoo — all  attributed  to 
the  Mormons.  Land  owned  by  Gentiles  near  Mormon  settle- 
ments practically  lost  its  value,  as  no  Gentile  wanted  to  buy  it; 
and  the  old  settlers  saw  they  could  have  no  peaceful  enjoyment 
of  their  property  while  the  Saints .  remained.  Gentiles  com- 
bined in  groups  for  society  and  protection,  and  Mormons  did 
the  same  at  command  of  the  church,  to  which  they  were  bound 
by  such  absolute  oaths ;  and  this,  of  course,  led  to  local  and 
sectional  hatred,  which,  among  people  who  habitually  wore 
arms,  soon  culminated  in  blood.  Men  became  afraid  to  stir 
abroad,  except  in  squads;  riots  and  regular  skirmishes, 
amounting  almost  to  pitched  battles,  took  place;  blood  was 
shed,  lives  were  lost,  and  the  exasperation  of  both  parties  was 
raised  to  the  highest  pitch.  The  Western  press  teemed  with 
accounts  of  the  enormities  of  Nauvoo :  no  doubt  greatly  exag- 
gerated, but  with  considerable  truth. 

While  matters  were  in  this  condition  two  shocking  murders 
took  place  in  Iowa,  not  far  from  Nauvoo.  A  Pennsylvania 
German  named  Miller,  and  his  son-in-law  Leiza,  had  come  into 
the  Half-Breed  Tract  near  Keokuk  to  buy  land,  and  it  was 
currently  reported  they  had  brought  $5,000  in  gold.  One 
night  their  door  was  suddenly  broken  open,  three  ruffians 


(99) 


100  POLYGAMY;   OR,    THE    MYSTERIES 


rushed  in  with  bludgeons  and  bowie  knives,  and  began  their 
deadly  work.  Both  the  men  grappled  with  their  assailants,  and 
such  was  the  vigor  of  the  old  German  that,  with  the  long  bowie 
knife  twice  buried  in  his  bosom  and  his  skull  fractured  by  a 
club,  he  still  forced  the  murderers  from  the  house  and  fell  dead 
in  the  yard.  The  screams  of  the  women  and  barking  of  the 
dogs  led  the  murderers  to  dread  an  alarm,  and  they  fled  with- 
out their  booty,  leaving  Leiza  alive  but  mortally  wounded. 
The  county  rose  as  one  man,  and  very  soon  the  trail  of  the 
murderers  was  traced  to  Nauvoo,  with  evidence  sufficient  to 
warrant  the  arrest  of  two  brothers  named  Hodges.  Their 
brother,  Amos  Hodges,  appealed  to  Brigham  Young,  who 
convened  the  Municipal  Court,  and  refused  to  allow  the  Iowa 
officials  to  arrest  the  accused.  This  put  an  end  to  all  hesitation 
of  Iowa  to  join  the  anti-Mormons  of  Illinois. 

Hawkins  Taylor,  sheriff  of  Lee  county,  Iowa,  came  with  a 
large  force  to  Xauvoo;  and,  by  Brigham's  order,  the  people 
assembled  for  a  council.  Taylor  spoke  with  great  plainness, 
telling  them  that  Iowa  would  certainly  join  their  Illinois  ene- 
mies if  they  did  not  surrender  the  accused.  The  latter  mean- 
while were  going  about  utterly  unconcerned.  But  that  night 
Brigham  and  his  councillors  suddenly  resolved  on  a  change :  by 
his  order  the  police  seized  the  Hodges  and  delivered  them  to 
Taylor,  who  soon  had  them  in  jail  in  Iowa.  Amos  Hodges, 
getting  wind  of  Brigham's  design,  called  on  him  late  that 
night,  stating  to  an  intimate  friend  as  he  went  that  unless 
Brigham  had  his  brothers  released  he,  Amos,  would  see  that  a 
few  more  Mormons  kept  them  company.  His  interview  with 
Brigham  was  stormy,  but  no  one  knows  what  was  said.  Next 
morning  Amos  Hodges  was  found  on  the  common,  dead :  a 
long  knife  having  been  driven  to  his  heart. 

Leiza  lived  long  enough  to  identify  the  Hodges,  and  they 
were  duly  hanged.  About  the  same  time  an  unrecognizable 
corpse  was  found  in  the  river,  and  a  lady,  now  resident  in  Salt 
Lake  City,  says  the  head  was  left  at  her  house  in  a  box,  to  be 
identified  by  Brigham  Young  as  that  of  the  right  man,  About 
the  same  time  also,  the  trials  of  various  suits  brought  against 


AND   CKIMES   OF   MORMONISM.  101 

Mormons  showed  that  the  latter  had  evaded  all  responsibility 
for  debts  by  what  they  called  the  "  Perfect  Oneness  in  Christ." 
In  this  order  a  few  persons  joined  in  deeding  all  their  property 
to  one  who  held  it  as  steward  for  the  Church  :  the  same  system 
which  in  Utah  has  grown  into  the  "  Order  of  Enoch  "  or  "  Per- 
fect Consecration."  After  some  suits  with  futile  results,  the 
people  of  Adams  county,  especially  in  the  vicinity  of  Lima  and 
Green  Plains,  began  to  discuss  measures  to  drive  out  all  Mor- 
mons living  there.  They  were  mostly  of  a  very  poor  class,  and 
the  older  citizens  were  greatly  annoyed  by  their  little  larcenies 
of  fruit,  poultry,  and  grain.  A  majority  of  the  Gentiles  there 
refused  to  try  violence,  so  the  more  aggressive  minority  con- 
certed a  trick  to  bring  others  up  to  the  proper  heat. 

A  -meeting  of  Gentiles  was  called  for  one  evening  at  a  log 
school-house,  and  while  the  principal  speaker  was  holding  forth 
on  the  horrors  and  dangers  of  their  situation,  there  was  a 
sudden  and  stunning  report,  and  the  large  window,  running 
the  whole  length  of  the  school-house,  was  dashed  inward  and 
in  fragments  on  the  floor.  Simultaneously  came  a  sharp  fire 
of  musketry,  the  whistling  of  balls  was  heard,  and  the  frantic 
cry  of  an  outside  sentinel :  "  The  Mormons  !  The  Mormons ! 
My  God,  men,  save  yourselves  ! " 

As  the  squalling  chickens  fly  when  the  fox  lands  in  the  coop, 
so  those  not  in  the  secret  bounded  out  of  doors  and  windows, 
and  with — "  O  Lord,  save  us  !  "  betook  themselves  to  flight. 
Some  jumped  into  their  saddles  without  loosing  their  horses, 
and  on  applying  the  spurs,  were  hurled  to  the  ground ;  but  the 
most  took  to  the  brush  without  care  for  their  animals.  One 
man,  it  is  averred,  seized  a  horse  by  the  tail  and  climbed  up  over 
the  rump  to  the  saddle  before  the  frightened  owner  could 
mount  by  way  of  the  stirrup ;  and  a  relative  of  this  writer, 
for  some  years  a  resident  of  Adams  county,  tells  a  story  of  an 
old  semi-paralytic,  who  had  not  walked  without  a  crutch  for 
years,  but  who  that  night  ran  three  miles,  ahead  of  the  swiftest 
youths  in  the  rout.  Of  course  the  attack  was  a  concerted 
affair,  but  the  effect  was  as  intended ;  the  fugitives  spread  the 
report  that  the  Mormons  had  commenced  a  general  massacre, 


102  POIA-GAMY;  OR,  THE  MYSTERIES 

and  within  forty-eight  hours  the  mobs  were  at  hand,  and 
threatening  the  Mormons  of  that  vicinity  with  fire  and  sword 
if  they  did  not  remove. 

They  refused,  and  the  work  of  destruction  began.  About  a 
hundred  and  fifty  shanties  were  unroofed  or  torn  down,  and 
the  inmates  thrust  into  their  own  vehicles,  or  turned  loose,  and 
set  on  the  road  to  Nauvoo.  It  was  now  the  worst  part  of  the 
malarious  season,  and  through  the  pestilential  vapors,  beneath 
the  sickening  heat  of  a  September  sun,  with  barely  enough 
well  ones  to  conduct  the  sick,  the  routed  Mormons  came  pour- 
ing into  Nauvoo.  The  groans  of  the  aged  and  sick,  the  bruises 
of  those  who  had  been  whipped,  and  the  abject  misery  of  all 
excited  the  Nauvoo  Mormons  to  a  fearful  pitch,  and  they 
retaliated  with  cruel  severity  on  a  few  Gentiles  who  fell  into 
their  hands.  The  condition  of  the  adjoining  country  was 
wretched  in  the  extreme.  It  was  worse  than  ordinary  civil 
war;  it  was  a  religious  feud.  Governor  Ford  gives  the  follow- 
ing  points  as  merely  the  principal  tragedies  and  troubles  of 
that  eventful  autumn: 

"No  leading  man  on  either  side  could  be  arrested  without 
the  aid  of  an  army,  as  the  men  of  one  party  could  rot  safely 
surrender  to  the  other  for  fear  of  being  murdered ;  when 
arrested  by  a  military  force,  the  Constitution  prohibited  a  trial 
in  any  other  county  without  the  consent  of  the  accused.  No 
one  could  be  convicted  of  any  crime  in  Hancock ;  and  this  put 
an  end  to  the  administration  of  the  criminal  law  in  that  dis- 
tracted county.  The  great  fires  in  Pittsburgh  and  in  other 
cities  about  this  time,  were  seized  upon  by  the  Mormon  press 
to  countenance  the  assertion  that  the  Lord  had  sent  them  to 
manifest  his  displeasure  against  the  Gentiles ;  and  to  hint  that 
all  other  places  which  should  countenance  the  enemies  of  the 
Mormons,  might  expect  to  be  visited  by  '  hot  drops '  of  the 
same  description.  This  was  interpreted  by  the  anti-Mormons 
to  be  a  threat  by  Mormon  incendiaries,  to  burn  down  all  cities 
and  places  not  friendly  to  their  religion.  About  this  time  also, 
a  suit  had  been  commenced  in  the  Circuit  Court  of  the  United 
States  against  some  of  the  Twelve  Apostles,  on  a  note  given  in 


AND   CRIMES   OF   MORMONISM.  103 

Ohio.  The  deputy  marshal  went  to  summon  the  defendants. 
They  were  determined  not  to  be  served  with  process,  and  a 
great  meeting  of  their  people  being  called,  outrageously  inflam- 
matory speeches  were  made  by  the  leaders ;  the  marshal  was 
threatened  and  abused  for  intending  to  serve  a  lawful  process, 
and  it  was  publicly  declared  and  agreed  to  by  the  Mormons, 
that  no  more  process  should  be  served  in  Nauvoo. 

"  The  Mormons  had  elected  Jake  Backinstos  Sheriff,  and  he 
was  hated  with  a  thorough  hatred  by  the  an ti -Mormons;  so 
when  called  on  by  him  to  act  in  a  posse  to  stop  the  burning  of 
houses  they  refused.  Backinstos  then  raised  at  Nauvoo  several 
hundred  armed  Mormons,  with  whom  he  swept  over  the 
country,  took  possession  of  Carthage,  and  established  a  per- 
manent guard  there.  The  anti-Mormons  everywhere  fled  from 
their  houses  before  the  Sheriff,  some  of  them  to  Iowa  and 
Missouri,  and  others  to  the  neighboring  counties  in  Illinois. 
The  Sheriff  was  unable  or  unwilling  to  bring  any  portion  of 
the  rioters  to  battle,  or  to  arrest  any  of  them  for  their  crimes. 
The  posse  came  near  surprising  one  small  squad,  but  they  made 
their  escape,  all  but  one,  before  they  could  be  attacked.  This 
one,  named  McBratney,  was  shot  down  by  some  of  the  posse  in 
advance,  by  whom  he  was  hacked  and  mutilated  as  though  he 
had  been  murdered  by  the  Indians. 

"Sheriff  Backinstos  was  in  constant  peril,  as  the  anti- 
Mormons  threatened  him  with  death  the  first  opportunity. 
Pursued  by  one  party,  he  had  a  friend  in  ambush  (Port  Rock- 
well), who  fired  on  the  pursuers  and  killed  Franklin  A. 
Worrall — the  same  who  had  command  of  the  guard  when  the 
Smiths  were  assassinated.  About  this  time  also,  the  Mormons 
murdered  a  man  by  the  name  of  Daubeneyer,  without  any 
apparent  provocation ;  and  another  anti-Mormon,  named 
Wilcox,  was  murdered  in  Nauvoo,  as  it  was  believed,  by  order 
of  the  Twelve  Apostles.  The  anti-Mormons  also  committed 
one  murder.  Some  of  them,  under  Back  man,  set  fire  to  some 
straw  near  a  barn  belonging  to  Durfee,  an  old  Mormon  of 
seventy  years ;  and  then  lay  in  ambush  until  the  old  man  came 
out  to  extinguish  the  fire,  when  they  shot  him  dead  from  their 


104  POLYGAMY;   OR,   THE   MYSTERIES 

place  of  concealment.  The  perpetrators  of  this  murder  were 
arrested  and  brought  before  an  anti-Mormon  justice  of  the  peace, 
and  were  acquitted,  though  their  guilt  was  sufficiently  apparent. 

"  During  the  ascendancy  of  the  Sheriff  and  the  absence  of 
the  anti-Mormons  from  their  homes,  the  people  who  had  been 
burnt  out  assembled  at  Nauvoo,  whence  with  many  others  they 
sallied  forth  and  ravaged  the  country,  steajing  and  plundering 
whatever  was  convenient  to  carry  or  drive  away.  When  in- 
formed of  these  proceedings  I  hastened  to  Jacksonville,  where, 
in  a  conference  with  General  Hardin,  Major  Warren,  Judge 
Douglas,  and  the  Attorney  General,  Mr.  McDougall,  it  was 
agreed  that  these  gentlemen  should  proceed  to  Hancock  in  all 
haste,  with  whatever  force  could  be  raised,  and  restore  peace. 
It  was  also  agreed  that  all  these  gentlemen  should  unite  their 
influence  with  mine  to  induce  the  Mormons  to  leave  the  State. 
General  Hardin  lost  no  time  in  raising  three  or  four  hundred 
volunteers,  and  when  he  got  to  Carthage  he  found  a  Mormon 
guard  in  possession  of  the  court-house.  This  force  he  ordered 
to  disband  and  disperse  in  fifteen  minutes.  The  plundering 
parties  of  Mormons  were  stopped  in  their  ravages.  The 
fugitive  anti-Mormons  were  recalled  to  their  homes,  and  all 
parties  above  four  in  number  on  either  side  were  prohibited 
from  assembling  and  marching  over  the  country. 

"  Whilst  General  Hardin  was  at  Carthage,  a  convention  pre- 
viously appointed  assembled  at  that  place,  composed  of  dele- 
gates from  the  eight  neighboring  counties,  appointed  to  consider 
measures  for  the  expulsion  of  the  Mormons.  Through  the  in- 
tervention of  General  Hardin,  it  was  agreed  that  the  Mormons 
should  leave  early  in  1846,  and  in  the  meantime  the  hostile  par- 
ties should  seek  to  make  no  arrests  for  crimes  previously  com- 
mitted ;  and  on  my  part,  I  agreed  that  an  armed  force  should 
be  stationed  in  the  county  to  keep  the  peace.  The  presence  of 
such  a  force,  and  amnesty  from  prosecutions  on  all  sides,  were 
insisted  on  by  the  Mormons  that  they  might  devote  their  time 
and  energies  to  prepare  for  their  removal.  General  Hardin 
first  diminished  his  force  to  one  hundred  men,  leaving  Major 
William  B.  Warren  in  command.  And  this  force  being  further 


AND  CRIMES  OP  MORMONISM.  105 

reduced  during  the  winter  to  fifty,  and  then  to  ten  men,  was 
kept  up  until  the  last  of  May,  1846.  This  force  was  com- 
manded with  great  prudence  and  efficiency  during  all  this  win- 
ter and  spring  by  Major  Warren  ;  and  with  it  he  was  enabled  to 
keep  the  turbulent  spirit  of  faction  in  check,  the  Mormons  well 
knowing  that  it  would  be  supported  by  a  much  larger  force 
whenever  the  governor  saw  proper  to  call  for  it." 

Thus  far  the  governor  and  the  official  record.  But  in 
the  mad  career  of  a  mad  people,  as  the  Mormons  then  were,  and 
that  of  their  scarcely  less  maddened  adversaries,  there  is  much 
that  never  appears  to  the  official  then  active  and  worried. 
What  follows  I  have  collated  from  many  sources.  I  have  read 
it  in  Mormon  and  Gentile  histories;  have  heard  it  in  a  hundred 
conversations  by  Mormon  firesides,  and  again  from  the  old  citizens 
of  Nauvoo  and  vicinity,  especially  the  Thomas  C.  Sharpe  before 
referred  to,  the  local  officials,  and  my  own  friends  and  relatives 
in  Adams  county.  Peter  Cartwright,  also,  the  venerable 
Methodist  itinerant,  whose  field  of  labor  included  Nauvoo  and 
vicinity,  has  left  a  graphic  and  apparently  truthful  account  of 
the  troubles.  He  charges  that  the  Mormons  "  stole  the  stock, 
plundered  and  burned  the  houses  and  barns,  and  there  is  no 
doubt  they  murdered  some  of  the  best  citizens  in  the  county ; 
and  owing  to  the  perjured  evidence  at  their  command,  redress 
was  impossible.  It  is  a  wonder  the  people  bore  as  long  as  they 
did  the  outrageous  villanies  practiced  on  them.  I  knew  all 
about  this  dreadful  conduct,  and  could  detail  the  facts  if  it  were 
necessary." 

Seeing  that  they  must  leave,  the  Mormons  strained  every 
nerve  to  complete  the  temple,  as  the  "  Lord "  had  told  them 
they  should  be  rejected  if  they  did  not  complete  it.  It  was 
indeed  a  beautiful  building,  and  was  estimated  to  have  cost  half 
a  million  dollars  in  money  and  labor.  The  poorest  Mormon 
had  contributed  his  tenth  day  of  labor  on  it ;  the  poorest  Mor- 
mon woman  had  sacrificed  some  jewel  to  purchase  the  adorn- 
ments ;  rich  and  poor  had  given  freely,  and  felt  in  it  the  pride 
an  artist  may  feel  in  a  fair  creation.  During  the  winter 
of  1845-46  tremendous  exertions  were  made  for  removal ; 


106 


POLYGAMY;   OR,   THE   MYSTERIES 


green  timber  was  dressed  and  boiled  in  brine  to  season  it  for 
wagons,  while  all  the  spare  houses  and  even  the  temple  were 
used  as  workshops.  By  these  means  12,000  wagons  were  got 
ready  for  the  exodus.  People  from  all  sections  flocked  to  Nau- 
voo  to  buy,  as  the  Saints  were  selling  at  panic  prices,  or  trading 
for  things  they  needed  for  the  trip.  But  in  the  midst  of  this 
heroism,  which  seems  really  sublime,  a  few  of  the  baser  sort 
were  again  busy  in  crime.  Counterfeit  money  in  large  amounts 


MORMONS  FLEEING   FROM  NAUVOO. 

was  made  and  circulated,  and  with  what  seemed  to  them  suffi- 
cient evidence,  the  Grand  Jury  of  the  United  States  Circuit 
Court  for  that  district  found  indictments  against  nine  of  the 
Twelve  Apostles.  The  Marshal  went  to  serve  the  writs,  and 
was  driven  out  of  Nauvoo.  He  applied  to  Governor  Ford  for 
a  militia  force,  but  the  latter  refused  it  on  the  ground  of  his 
agreement  with  the  Saints.  He  sent  them  word,  however,  that 


AND   CRIMES   OF   MORMONISM.  107 

as  soon  as  navigation  opened  in  the  spring  the  President  would 
probably  order  a  detachment  of  the  regular  army  to  Nauvoo. 
This  scare  had  the  desired  effect;  the  Twelve  Apostles  fled  to 
Iowa,  accompanied  by  about  2,000  of  their  brethren.  February 
5th,  1846,  this  first  company  crossed  the  Mississippi  on  the  ice; 
was  followed  as  rapidly  as  possible  by  other  parties,  and  by  the 
first  of  June  16,000  Mormons  had  crossed  and  started  on  their 
long  pilgrimage  towards  a  new  Zion. 

In  May  the  temple  was  finished,  and  dedicated  with  great 
ceremony  ;  but  scarcely  had  the  notes  of  the  trumpet  ceased  and 
the  last  hymn  died  on  the  air,  when  the  work  of  removing  the 
saero-sancta  began ;  everything  portable  was  taken  down  and 
carefully  packed  for  the  new  Zion,  and  the  building  dismantled 
to  the  bare  walls.  Meanwhile,  fresh  troubles  had  broken  out. 
Of  the  new  citizens  who  had  bought  Mormon  property,  not  a 
few  were  of  doubtful  reputation  ;  these  created  trouble  with  the 
better  sort,  with  the  adjacent  Gentiles,  and  with  the  thousand  or 
more  Mormons  who  remained.  Again  the  officials  interfered, 
and  again  a  truce  was  patched  up.  But  the  August  election 
came  on,  and  the  Saints  remaining  in  Nauvoo  not  only  voted 
the  Democratic  ticket  for  themselves,  but  for  their  absent 
friends,  each  one  giving  in  three  or  four  names  which  were  still 
on  the  poll-books,  though  their  legal  owners  were  gone.  This 
created  fresh  trouble  and  brought  on  the  final  tragi-comedy. 

The  knowledge  that  many  designing  persons  were  endeavor- 
ing to  keep  the  Mormons  in  the  county  for  political  purposes,  the 
fact  that  they  had  completed  the  temple  as  if  they  meant  to  stay, 
and  an  exciting  rumor  that  the  main  body  was  coming  back 
with  reinforcements  and  Indian  allies,  roused  the  anti-Mormons, 
and  under  the  direction  of  Archibald  Williams,  a  distinguished 
lawyer  and  a  Whig  politician  of  Quincy,  writs  were  again 
sworn  out  for  the  arrest  of  persons  in  Nauvoo,  on  various 
charges.  But  to  create  a  necessity  for  a  great  force  to  make  the 
arrests,  it  was  freely  admitted  by  John  Carlin,  the  constable  sent 
in  with  the  writs,  that  the  prisoners  would  be  murdered  if  ar- 
rested and  taken  out  of  the  city.  And  now  having  failed  to 
make  the  arrests,  the  constable  began  to  call  out  the  posse  comi- 


108  POLYGAMY;    OR,   THE    MYSTERIES 

iatus.  This  was  about  the  1st  of  September,  1846.  The  posse 
soon  amounted  to  several  hundred  men.  The  Mormons,  in 
their  turn,  swore  out  several  writs  for  the  arrest  of  leading  anti- 
Mormons.  It  was  the  old  conflict  over  again.  But  let  it  take 
what  shape  it  would,  or  may  in  the  future,  it  is  ever  the  same : 
Theocracy  rs.  Democracy.  All  congressional  devices  to  govern 
Utah  which  do  not  rest  on  that  bed-rock  truth,  are  but  legisla- 
tive quackery. 

The  new  citizens  applied  to  the  governor  for  a  militia  officer 
to  be  sent  over  with  ten  men,  they  supposing  that  this  small 
force  would  dispense  with  the  services  of  the  civil  posse  on 
either  side.  He  sent  Major  Parker,  and  meanwhile  the  anti- 
Mormon  force  had  increased  to  about  eight  hundred  men  ;  and 
whilst  it  was  getting  ready  to  march  into  the  city,  it  was 
represented  to  the  governor  by  another  committee,  that  the  new 
citizens  of  Xauvoo  were  themselves  divided  into  two  parties, 
the  one  siding  with  the  Mormons,  the  other  with  their  enemies. 
The  Mormons  threatened  the  disaffected  with  death,  if  they  did 
not  join  in  defence  of  the  city.  For  this  reason  the  governor 
sent  over  M.  Brayman,  Esq.,  a  judicious  citizen  of  Springfield, 
who  gained  the  rank  of  general  in  the  war  of  1861-65,  with 
suitable  orders  restraining  all  compulsion,  in  forcing  the  citi- 
zens to  join  the  Mormons  against  their  will,  and  generally  to 
inquire  into  and  report  all  the  circumstances  of  the  quarrel. 
Soon  after  Mr.  Brayman  arrived  there,  he  persuaded  the  leaders 
on  each  side  into  an  adjustment  of  the  quarrel.  It  was  agreed 
that  the  Mormons  should  immediately  surrender  their  arms  to 
some  person  to  be  appointed  to  receive  them,  and  to  be  re- 
delivered  when  they  left  the  State,  and  that  they  would  remove 
from  the  State  in  two  months.  This  treaty  was  agreed  to  by 
General  Singleton,  Colonel  Chittenden  and  others  on  the  side 
of  the  Anties,  and  by  Major  Parker  and  some  leading  Mormons 
on  the  other  side.  But  when  the  treaty  was  submitted  to  the 
anti-Mormon  forces  for  ratification,  it  was  rejected  by  a  small 
majority.  General  Singleton  and  Colonel  Chittenden,  with  a 
proper  self-respect,  immediately  withdrew  from  command.  Mr. 
Brayman  reported  to  the  governor  that  the  anti-Mormons  would 


AND  CRIMES  OF   MORMONISM.  109 

disperse  without  a  fight,  but  instead  they  appointed  new  leaders 
and  in  chief  command  one  Thomas  S.  Brockman,  described  by 
the  Mormons  as  a  fiend  incarnate  and  not  very  highly  spoken 
of  by  the  Illinoisans.  The  governor  now  made  desperate  efforts 
to  raise  a  militia  force  not  affected  by  the  popular  feeling,  but 
in  vain.  The  hatred  against  the  Mormons  was  too  intense  and 
wide-spread.  Brockman's  regiment  was  well  armed  with  rifles 
supplied  by  militia  companies,  and  a  few  good  cannon,  and 
advancecf  to  the  siege.  The  Mormons,  aided  by  a  few  old 
settlers,  hastily  fashioned  some  rude  cannons  out  of  an  old 
steamboat  shaft  and  took  position  about  a  mile  east  of  the 
temple,  where  they  threw  up  some  breastworks  for  the  protec- 
tion of  their  artillery.  The  attacking  force  was  strong  enough 
to  have  been  divided  and  marched  into  the  city,  on  each  side 
of  this  battery,  and  entirely  out  of  the  range  of  its  shot ;  and 
thus  the  place  might  have  been  taken  without  the  firing  of  a 
gun.  But  Brockman,  although  he  professed  a  desire  to  save 
the  lives  of  his  men,  planted  his  force  directly  in  front  of  the 
enemy's  battery,  but  distant  more  than  half  a  mile ;  and  here 
they  had  what  they  called  a  battle,  though  it  certainly  would 
have  raised  a  laugh  among  military  men. 

After  a  few  days,  and  with  fresh  ammunition,  the  Brockman 
forces  again  advanced  and  te  a  better  position,  and  had  another 
"  battle,"  in  which  they  killed  two  men  and  one  boy  of  the 
Mormons,  and  had  one  man  killed  and  nine  slightly  wounded. 
An  immense  amount  of  ammunition  was  fired,  however,  and 
that  side  of  the  town  badly  battered.  The  Nauvoo  forces 
were  all  this  time  growing  weaker  by  desertions  and  sickness, 
and  on  the  arrival  of  another  peace  committee  from  Quincy 
they  surrendered  at  discretion,  only  making  some  stipulations 
as  to  free  removal.  In  marched  the  militia,  or  mob,  or  posse, 
as  you  choose,  consisting  of  some  eight  hundred  armed  men, 
and  six  or  seven  hundred  unarmed,  who  had  assembled,  from 
all  the  country  around,  from  motives  of  curiosity,  to  see  the 
once  proud  city  of  Nauvoo  humbled,  and  delivered  up  to  its 
enemies,  and  to  the  domination  of  a  self-constituted  and  irre- 
sponsible power.  They  proceeded  into  the  city  slowly  and 


110 


POLYGAMY:    OR,   THE   MYSTERIES 


carefully,  examining  the  way  from  fear  of  the  explosion  of  a 
mine,  many  of  which  had  been  made  by  the  Mormons,  by 
burying  kegs  of  powder  in  the  ground  with  a  man  stationed  at 
a  distance  to  pull  a  string  communicating  with  the  trigger  of  a 
percussion  lock  affixed  to  the  keg.  This  kind  of  contrivance 
was  called  by  the  Mormons  a  "  hell's  half-acre."  When  the 
posse  arrived  in  the  city,  the  leaders  of  it  erected  themselves 


3IORMOX  TEMPLE  AT  XAUVOO,  ILLINOIS- 

into  a  tribunal  to  decide  who  should  be  forced  away  and  who 
remain.  Parties  were  dispatched  to  hunt  for  Mormon  arms 
and  for  Mormons,  and  to  bring  them  to  the  judgment,  where 
they  received  their  doom  from  the  mouth  of  Brockman,  who 
then  sat  a  grim  and  unawed  tyrant  for  the  time.  As  a  general 
rule,  the  Mormons  were  ordered  to  leave  within  an  hour  or  two 
hours ;  and  by  rare  grace  some  of  them  were  allowed  until  next 
day,  and  in  a  few  cases  longer. 


AND   CRIMES   OF   MORMONI8M.  Ill 

The  mob  expelled  all  the  Mormons  and  some  of  the  new 
citizens.  Some  of  them  were  ducked  in  the  river,  being  in  one 
or  two  instances  actually  baptized  in  the  name  of  the  leaders  of 
the  mob ;  others  were  forcibly  driven  into  the  ferry-boats,  to  be 
taken  over  the  river,  before  the  bayonets  of  armed  ruffians; 
and  it  is  asserted  that  the  houses  of  most  of  them  were  broken 
open  and  plundered.  The  Mormons,  in  fearful  distress  and 
poverty,  were  thrown  houseless  upon  the  Iowa  shore  at  the 
worst  period  of  the  sickly  season.  Many  of  them  were  taken 
from  sick-beds,  hurried  into  the  boats,  and  driven  away  by  the 
armed  ruffians  now  exercising  the  power  of  government.  The 
best  they  could  do  was  to  erect  their  tents  on  the  banks  of  the 
river,  and  there  remain  to  take  their  chances  of  perishing  by 
hunger,  or  by  prevailing  sickness.  In  this  condition  the  sick, 
without  shelter,  food,  nourishment  or  medicines,  died  by  scores. 
The  mother  watched  her  sick  babe,  without  hope,  until  it  died, 
and  when  she  sunk  under  accumulated  miseries,  it  was  only  to 
be  quickly  followed  by  her  other  children,  now  left  without  the 
least  attention ;  for  the  men  had  scattered  out  over  the  country 
seeking  employment  and  the  means  of  living.  Their  distressed 
condition  was  no  sooner  known,  than  relief  was  extended  by  all 
classes ;  and  in  a  few  days  their  brethren  returned  and  took 
them  to  the  Missouri  river.  So  ended  the  long  struggle,  and 
Illinois  was  freed  from  the  peculiar  people. 


The  subsequent  history  of  Nauvoo  is  scarcely  less  interesting 
and  far  more  satisfactory.  The  new  citizens  sent  abroad  highly 
colored  circulars  about  the  great  water-power  and  natural  site, 
and  a  great  speculation  followed  which  ended  in  a  collapse,  and 
the  city  shrank  to  a  little  hamlet  of  perhaps  seven  hundred 
people.  Then  came  the  Icarians,  French  Communists,  under 
the  lead  of  M.  Cabet.  These  proposed  to  fit  up  the  temple  for 
a  social  hall  and  school-room.  But  at  2  A.  M.  of  November 
10th,  1848,  it  was  found  to  be  on  fire,  and  before  daylight 
every  particle  of  woodwork  was  destroyed.  It  was  set  on  fire 
in  the  third  story  of  the  steeple,  one  hundred  and  forty  feet 


112  POI-VGAMY;     OR,    THE    MYSTERIES 

from  the  ground.  The  dry  pine  burned  like  tinder ;  there  was 
no  mode  of  reaching  the  fire,  and  in  twenty  minutes  the  whole 
wooden  interior  was  a  mass  of  flames.  In  two  hours  nothing 
remained  but  hot  walls,  inclosing  a  bed  of  embers.  At  Mon- 
trose  and  Fort  Madison,  Iowa,  they  could  distinguish  every 
house  in  Nauvoo,  and  the  light  was  seen  forty  miles  around. 
Joe  Agnew,  of  Pontoosuc,  fourteen  miles  above  Nauvoo,  after- 
wards confessed  that  he  set  it  on  fire.  He  had  suffered  at  the 
hands  of  the  Mormons,  and  sworn  no  trace  of  them  should 
cumber  the  soil  of  Illinois. 

The  Icarian  Community  failed,  of  course,  and  was  succeeded 
by  a  colony  of  Bavarians  and  Westphalians  who  have  made  a 
great  success  of  the  wine  manufacture  and  raised  Nauvoo  to  a 
beautiful  city  of  perhaps  three  thousand  people.  The.  temple 
walls  had  stood  in  such  perfect  preservation  that  the  citizens 
determined  again  to  refit  it  for  an  academy.  But  in  Novem- 
ber, 1850,  a  fearful  hurricane  swept  down  the  river,  and  threw 
down  most  of  the  structure.  The  rest  was  removed.  Now  a 
vineyard  covers  the  spot,  and  the  stone  is  in  a  hundred  walls 
and  dwellings  of  the  town.  From  the  deck  of  a  Mississippi 
steamer  Nauvoo,  which  once  had  fourteen  thousand  inhabitants, 
now  looks  like  a  suburb  of  retired  country-seats,  stretching  for 
two  or  three  miles  up  a  handsome  slope;  and  thousands  yearly 
pass  on  the  river  admiring  the  rural  beauty  of  the  place,  but 
little  thinking  that  a  third  of  a  century  since  it  was  the  largest 
city  in  Illinois,  and  the  most  notorious  in  America,  the  chosen 
stronghold  of  a  most  peculiar  faith  and  destined  capital  of  a 
vast  religious  empire. 


AND   CRIMES   OF   MORMONISM.  113 


CHAPTER  VII. 

SETTLEMENT   IN   UTAH. 

The  Via  Dolorosa — Orson  Hyde  and  Bill  Hickman  "  regulate"  bad  characters 
— Mormon  battalion  enlisted  for  Mexican  war — Colonel  Kane's  life  among 
the  Mormons — Pioneer  band  goes  to  Utah — State  of  Deseret — Utah  organ- 
ized— Governor  Brigham  Young— Trouble  with  officials — Gentiles  fly  the 
Territory — Official  account  of  Utah  affairs — Mormons  in  open  rebellion. 

THE  last  of  the  Mormons  was  exiled  from  the  State  which 
had  gladly  received  them  seven  years  before,  and  we  turn  to 
their  march  through  Iowa — the  Via  Dolorosa  of  Mormon  his- 
tory.    They  were  divided  into  companies  of  ten  wagons  each, 
under  control  of  captains,  and  this  semi-military  order  was 
maintained  throughout.     As  the  spring  advanced,  many  of  the 
able-bodied  men  scattered  to  various  places  in   Missouri  and 
Iowa,  seeking  employment  of  every  kind,  and  the  remaining 
men,  with  a  great  band  of  women  and  children,  pursued  their 
way.     In  that  climate  and  at  that  season  their  sufferings  were 
necessarily  great.     The  high  waters,  wet  prairie,  damp  winds 
and  muddy  roads  of  spring  troubled  them  worse  than  the  frosts 
of  winter,  and  sickness  and  death  increased.     "All  night,"  says 
a  woman  who  made  the  journey,  "  the  wagons  came  trundling 
into  camp  with  half-frozen  children  screaming  with  cold,  or 
crying  for  bread,  and  the  same  the  next  day,  and  the  next,  the 
whole  line  of  march.     The  open  sky  and   bare  ground  for 
women  and  children  in  February  is  a  thing  only  to  be  endured 
when  human  nature  is  put  to  the  rack  of  necessity,  and  many  a 
mother  hastily  buried  her  dead  child  by  the  wayside,  only  re- 
gretting she  could  not  lie  down  with  it  herself  and  be  at  peace." 
On   their   way  they  established   "stakes,"   and,  when   the 
weather  had  sufficiently  advanced,  enclosed   large  fields  and 
planted  them  with  grain  for  those  who  were  to  follow  after. 
8 


114  POLYGAMY;    OB,   THE   MYSTERIES 

The  most  noted  of  these  "stakes"  were  Garden  Grove  and 
Mt.  Pisgah.  But  disease  increased;  hundreds  who  had  been 
frost-bitten  and  chilled  during  the  winter  died  along  the  way, 
and  the  route  was  lined  with  graves.  Still  the  zeal  of  the  sur- 
vivors sustained  them,  and  the  cruel  ambition  of  their  leader 
forced  them  on ;  and  though  many  deserted  and  turned  away  to 
various  Gentile  settlements,  a  majority  remained.  As  successive 
parties  left  Nauvoo,  the  trains  were  spread  over  a  line  of  a  hun- 
dred miles ;  but  during  the  latter  part  of  the  season  they  con- 
centrated in  the  Pottawattomie  country,  extending  up  and 
down  the  Missouri  from  Council  Bluffs.  Here  they  built  ferry 
boats,  and  a  part  crossed  the  river.  Preparations  for  the  winter 
were  made  on  both  sides ;  cabins  were  built,  rude  tents 
erected,  and  ''dugouts,"  dwellings  half  underground,  con- 
structed. Many  young  men  went  back  to  the  States  and  hired 
out  to  work  for  provisions,  which  were  forwarded  to  the  camp. 
According  to  other  witnesses,  a  band  of  horse  and  cattle  thieves 
was  organized  under  the  control  of  Orson  Hyde,  and  a  gang  of 
counterfeiters  sent. into  Missouri;  but  this  is  the  testimony  of 
fugitives  from  the  Mormon  camps,  and  is  of  course  denied  by 
Mormons. 

The  notorious  Bill  Hickman  now  became  a  trusted  man  in 
the  church,  and,  according  to  his  so-called  confession,  he  acted 
as  chief  Dauite  at  this  period,  killing  two  white  men  and  one 
Indian  near  Council  Bluffs,  by  order  of  Orson  Hyde.  He  says 
the  men  he  killed  were  horse  thieves  and  desperadoes,  convicted 
at  secret  trials ;  and  the  Mormons  do  not  deny  that  a  few  parties 
of  that  character  "  slipped  their  wind "  by  priestly  order,  but 
claim  that  the  victims  were  men  of  whom  the  earth  was  well 
rid.  In  the  July  previous  the  Mormons  had  been  visited  by 
Captain  James  G.  Allen,  of  the  United  States  Dragoons,  with 
whom  Brigham  Young  entered  into  negotiations  to  furnish  a 
battalion  for  the  Mexican  war.  The  Mormons  were  the  more 
ready  to  enter  this  service,  as  they  expected  to  be  discharged  in 
California,  where  the  church  then  intended  to  settle.  Five 
hundred  men  were  enrolled  in  a  few  days,  and  proceeded  to 
Leavenworth,  where  they  were  mustered  into  the  service  of  the 


AND   CRIMES   OF   MORMOSISM. 


115 


United  States,  An  agent  of  Brigham  Young  accompanied  them 
thus  far,  and  received  twenty  thousand  dollars  of  their  ad- 
vanced bounty,  which  was  understood  to  be  for  the  support  of 
their  families  during  their  absence;  and  the  since  noted  John  D. 
Lee  and  Major  Howard  Egan  accompanied  the  battalion  to 
Santa  Fe,  and  took  back  to  Brigham  the  amount  of  their  first 
payment.  This  is  supposed  to  have  been  used  in  taking 
their  families  to  Utah,  but  grave  charges  are  made  concern- 
ing it.  Several  testify  that  Brigham  tithed  it  heavily  and 


OESON   HYDE,  APOSTLE  AND  DANITE. 

allowed  their  families  to  suffer;  but  in  the  criminations  and 
recriminations  of  fanatics  and  apostates  the  truth  is  hard  to 
come  at. 

The  battalion  was  put  in  the  command  of  Colonel  Philip  St. 
George  Cooke,  in  the  noted  overland  expedition  under  General 
Kearney.  They  marched  two  thousand  and  fifty  miles  to  San 
Diego,  California,  passing  through  the  mountains  of  southern 
Arizona  and  New  Mexico,  and  across  the  "desert  of  death." 
One  company  of  them  re-enlisted  for  a  short  time  in  California, 
many  apostatized  and  the  rest  made  their  way  to  Salt  Lake 


116  POLYGAMY. 

City.  The  main  body  of  the  Saints  meanwhile  concentrated  at 
what  is  now  Florence,  six  miles  north  of  Omaha,  which  they 
called  Winter  Quarters.  There  they  built  five  hundred  log 
houses,  one  grist  mill  and  several  horse  mills ;  there  the  church 
was  completely  reorganized,  the  "Quorum  of  Three"  re-estab- 
lished, and  it  was  unanimously  resolved  that  "the  mantle  of 
the  Prophet  Joseph  had  fallen  on  the  Seer  and  Revelator, 
Brigham  Young;"  who  was  accordingly  chosen  to  all  the 
offices  and  titles  of  the  dead  Prophet. 

Long  before  the  departure  from  Nauvoo  there  had  been 
much  discussion  as  to  their  home  in  the  West;  and  in  1842 
Joseph  Smith  had  prophesied  their  departure,  and  sent  out  an 
exploring  expedition.  They  then  thought  of  taking  Oregon 
and  establishing  an  independent  government  there;  but  on 
application  to  the  United  States  authorities,  were  peremptorily 
forbidden  to  attempt  such  a  settlement.  Oregon  was  then 
jointly  occupied  by  Great  Britain  and  the  United  States,  the 
right  to  it  being  unsettled;  and  the  President  and  Cabinet  said 
the  invasion  by  so  large  a  Ixxly  as  the  Mormons  would  be  an 
infraction  of  the  treaty.  Governor  Ford  soon  after  called 
their  attention  to  Fremont's  explorations  and  suggested  that 
one  of  the  valleys  he  describes  would  suit  them.  But  an  old 
member  of  the  Illinois  legislature,  now  resident  in  Chicago, 
claims  to  be  the  real  instigator  of  the  settlement  in  Utah.  He 
served  in  the  same  legislature  with  William  Smith,  brother  of 
the  Prophet,  and  called  his  attention  to  the  Salt  Lake  valley  as 
then  just  described  by  Fremont.  This  view  was  urged  upon 
Brigham  Young,  and  afterwards  probably  determined  his 
action.  It  was  then  included  in  California,  and  under  the  rule 
of  Mexico. 

In  the  spring  of  1847  the  main  body  was  about  the  present 
Omaha,  but  on  the  east  side  were  two  thousand  wagons  scat- 
tered in  various  camps,  each  bearing  the  name  of  its  leader. 
Many  of  these  names  remain  in  the  local  nomenclature  of  that 
country,  as  Cutlers,  Perkins,  Millers,  etc.  At  this  time  they 
were  visited  by  Colonel  (since  General)  Thomas  L.  Kane,  of 
Philadelphia,  who  continued  with  them  some  time,  crossed  a  por- 


BBIGHAM'S  DAUGHTEB  ATTEMPTS  SUICIDB. 


(117) 


118  POLYGAMY;   OR,    THE    MYSTERIES 


tion  of  the  plains  with  them,  and  figured  extensively  in  an  impor- 
tant period  of  Mormon  history.  Elder  John  Hyde,  the  noted 
apostate,  says  that  Kane  there  embraced  Mormonism,  but  this 
seems  quite  improbable.  Colonel  Kane  was  the  guest  of 
Brigham  Young  at  a  time  when  the  Prophet  had,  by  his  own 
account,  four  wives;  yet  the  Colonel  on  his  return  solemnly 
.inured  the  President  that  there  was  no  such  thing  as  polygamy 
among  the  Mormons.  During  the  winter,  Orson  Pratt,  Parley 
P.  Pratt  and  John  Taylor  went  on  a  mission  to  England,  giv- 
ing general  notice  to  tin-  Saints  abroad,  that  the  next  gathering 
place  would  be  in  Upper  California.  At  a  conference  held 
before  they  left  Xauvoo,  to  determine  their  destination,  Lyman 
Wight  had  strongly  urged  Texas,  John  Taylor  proposed  Van- 
couver's Island,  many  were  in  favor  of  Oregon  and  Brigham 
Young  insisted  upon  California.  They  finally  fixed  indefinitely 
upon  "some  valley  in  the  Rocky  mountains."  Pursuant  to 
this  design  they  gladly  furnished  the  battalion,  as  aforesaid, 
and  also  drafted  and  forwarded  an  address  to  President  Polk, 
"expressive  of  the  gratitude  of  the  Church  of  Jesus  Christ  of 
Jotter-Day  Saints  towards  him  for  his  benevolent  design  of  arm- 
ing and  planting  Jive  hundred  of  our  volunteers  in  California,  to 
take  possession  of  that  country,  and  for  our  good,  and  also  praying 
the  President  of  the  United  States  not  to  appoint  Governor 
Boggs  of  Missouri — the  notorious  enemy  of  the  Saints — as 
Governor  of  California."  Governor  Boggs,  and  many  thou- 
sand people  from  Illinois  and  Missouri  had  crossed  to  Califor- 
nia in  1846. 

With  the  battalion  money  Brigham  now  fitted  out  the 
"Pioneer  Band/'  143  men  with  seventy  wagons,  and  under 
his  command  they  left  winter  quarters,  April  14th,  1847,  and 
followed  Fremont's  trail  westward  up  the  Platte  river.  A\\>t 
of  the  Black  Hills,  they  diverged  and  followed  a  trapper's 
trail  for  four  hundred  miles,  and  from  Bear  river  westward, 
laid  out  a  new  route  through  Emigration  cafiou  to  Jordan 
valley.  They  entered  the  valley  July  24th,  now  celebrated  as 
"Anniversary  Day."  They  found  willows  and  other  scant 
vegetation  along  City  creek,  and  this  stream  they  dammed,  and 


AND   CRIMES   OF    MORMONISM.  119 

dug  an  irrigating  ditch.  They  planted  a  few  potatoes,  from 
which  they  raised  enough  that  year  to  serve  for  seed  for  a  large 
plat,  though  no  bigger  than  chestnuts.  They  proceeded  also  to 
lay  out  a  city,  and  in  October  Brigham  Young  and  a  few 
others  went  back  to  winter  quarters.  The  people  had  suffered 
greatly  with  cholera,  fever  and  inflammatory  diseases,  and  the 
old  Mormon  graveyard  at  Florence  contains  seven  hundred 
graves  of  that  winter,  of  which  two  hundred  are  of  children. 
Vast  numbers  had  fallen  into  apostasy,  or  turned  away  and 
joined  themselves  to  recusant  sects;  and  all  their  fair-weather 
friends  had  forsaken  them.  But  the  little  remnant  were  at 
least  consolidated  in  sentiment,  strengthened  and  confirmed 
together  by  mutual  suffering,  firm  and  self-reliant;  and  some- 
thing over  four  thousand  made  the  journey  to  Salt  Lake  the 
following  season.  But  the  small  party  left  in  the  valley  had 
raised  but  a  scant  crop,  and  though  the  new-comers  had  trans- 
ported all  the  provisions  they  could,  there  was  great  scarcity. 
Every  head  of  a  family  issued  rations  to  those  dependent  upon 
him,  and  many  children  received,  for  months,  "each  one  biscuit  a 
day  and  all  the  scgo  roots  they  could  dig."  Wolves,  raw  hides, 
rabbits,  thistle  roots,  segos,  and  everything  that  would  support 
life  was  resorted  to.  In*  1849,  a  plentiful  crop  was  raised, 
furnishing  enough  for  food  and  a  small  surplus.  February 
20th,  1848,  emigration  from  Great  Britain  was  recommenced 
after  a  suspension  of  two  years. 

One  can  but  smile  and  sigh  alternately  on  reading  the  Mor- 
mon record  of  those  early  years  in  Utah.  At  one  time  there  is 
promise  of  a  good  harvest,  or  some  discovery  of  natural  wealth  ; 
then  the  spirits  of  the  Saints  mount  as  on  eagle's  wings,  and 
they  cry  exultingly  to  all  the  world  to  come  and  behold  the 
goodness  of.  Zion.  Again  there  is  misfortune,  and  then  we 
have  wailings  in  the  style  of  a  parody  on  the  Hebrew  Psalms. 
Through  it  all  there  is  an  awkward  straining  after  Hebraic 
similes:  the  church  was  in  the  wilderness  of  Zin,  but  had  set 
up  her  Ebenezer;  she  was  in  peril  of  the  Lamanites,  but 
would  blow  down  the  walls  of  Jericho;  she  had  suffered  at 
Ziklag,  but  hoped  to  rejoice  at  Beor-lahai-roi.  The  crickets 


120  POLYGAMY;    OR,   THE    MYSTERIES 

came*  and  nearly  destroyed  one  crop;  then  gulls  came  and 
destroyed  the  crickets,  and  in  pious  gratitude  the  Mormon 
historian  records  the  miracle  with  this  addendum:  "There 
were  no  gulls  in  the  country  before  the  Mormons  came ! "  The 
reader  will,  no  doubt,  accept  this  as  true,  in  the  slang  meaning 
of  the  word. 

Save  Indians  and  crickets  there  were  none  to  molest;  but 
the  Saints  had  scarcely  got  located  when  they  learned  that  the 
Treaty  of  Guadaloupe  Hidalgo,  late  in  1848,  had  put  them 
once  more  in  United  States  territory.  They  could  easily  have 
maintained  independence  of  Mexican  rule,  but  other  measures 
were  now  necessary;  and  in  1849  they  began  organizing  a  State 
government.  Late  that  year  Captain  Howard  Stansbury,  with 
his  assistant,  Lieutenant  Gunnison,  and  party  arrived,  and 
thinking,  as  he  stated,  that  his  success  depended  somewhat  upon 
the  good-will  of  the  Mormons,  he  visited  Salt  Lake  City  at 
once  and  formed  a  very  favorable  opinion.  He  acknowledges 
the  courtesy  and  assistance  of  the  Mormons,  "  as  soon  as  the 
true  object  of  the  expedition  was  understood."  His  party 
were  probably  the  first  Gentiles  who  ever  spent  more  than  a 
month  or  two  in  Salt  Lake  City.  Late  in  1849,  or  early  in 
1850,  Messrs.  Livingston  and  Kinkead,  pioneer  merchants, 
opened  a  store  in  Salt  Lake  City,  and  from  the  extent  of  their 
trade,  the  Saints  seemed  to  have  realized  handsomely  on  their 
sales  to  the  California  emigrants. 

Captain  Stansbury  completed  his  survey  of  the  Great  Salt 
Lake,  and  set  out  on  his  return  to  the  States  in  August,  1850; 
and  soon  after  an  immense  emigration  appeared  on  their  way 
to  California.  The  association  of  the  preceding  year  seems  to 
have  created  great  confidence,  and  nearly  all  these  emigrants 
made  a  lengthy  stay  in  the  Mormon  settlements.  For  three 
years  the  Mormons  had  been  almost  unheard  of  in  the  States, 
and  most  of  the  prejudice  against  them  had  died  out;  but  re- 
newed prosperity  and  increasing  numbers  had  produced  their 
usual  effects:  arrogance,  spiritual  pride,  and  a  desire  to  domi- 
nate over  the  unbelievers.  Late  in  the  season  a  large  number 
of  emigrants  were  persuaded  that  it  was  unsafe  to  continue  the 


AND   CRIMES   OF   MORMONISM.  121 

westward  route  at  that  season,  and  concluded  to  remain  all  win- 
ter among  the  Mormons.  They  represent  that  all  was  pleasant 
until  autumn  was  too  far  advanced  for  them  to  leave  even  by 
the  southern  route,  after  which  a  series  of  merciless  exactions 
began,  and  never  ceased  as  long  as  the  Mormon  civil  authorities 
could  find  pretences  for  bogus  legal  actions,  or  the  emigrants 
had  anything  of  which  they  could  be  stripped.  Those  who 
had  hired  out  to  work  for  Mormons  were  refused  their  pay, 
and  denied  redress  in  the  courts;  if  difficulties  arose,  fines  of 
from  one  to  five  hundred  dollars  were  imposed  for  the  slightest 
misdemeanors;  in  all  suits  between  Mormon  and  Gentile,  the 
latter  invariably  paid  the  costs;  they  were  openly  reviled  in 
court  by  the  Mormon  judges,  and  in  one  peculiarly  aggravating 
instance  Justice  Willard  Snow  boasted  to  Gentiles  in  his  court 
that  "the  time  was  near  at  hand,  when  he  would  judge  Gentiles 
for  life  and  death,  and  then  he  would  snatch  their  heads  off  like 
chickens  in  the  door-yard." 

In  one  case  an  emigrant  died  near  the  Hot  Springs,  and  his 
three  companions  buried  him  and  proceeded  on  their  way  without 
notifying  the  city  authorities.  Complaint  was  made  that  some 
city  ordinance  had  been  violated ;  they  were  pursued,  taken 
back  to  the  city,  and  every  dollar  they  had,  as  well  as  their 
wagon  and  all  their  stock,  were  taken  to  pay  their  fine  and 
costs.  Another  Gentile  was  struck  over  the  head  with  a  board 
by  Bill  Hick  man,  and  returned  the  blow,  for  which  he  was  ar- 
rested and  fined  eighty  dollars ;  the  costs  made  up  the  amount 
to  more  than  two  hundred  dollars,  but  as  he  had  but  little  over 
half  the  sum,  they  kindly  contented  themselves  with  taking  all 
he  had,  and  let  him  depart.  Many  who  had  come  in  with  a 
complete  "  outfit,"  finished  their  journey  on  foot.  When  these 
emigrants  reached  the  general  rendezvous  on  the  Sacramento, 
they  began  to  compare  notes.  And  as  each  new-comer  added 
to  the  evidence,  it  was  thought  best  to  compile  their  statements 
to  send  to  their  Eastern  friends.  Accordingly  the  affidavits  of 
five  hundred  of  them  were  selected,  reduced  to  form,  and,  with 
their  names  appended,  published  and  circulated  generally  ii*  the 
East. 


1  22  POLYGAMY  ;  OR,   THE   MYSTERIES 

This  book,  of  which  a  copy  may  be  found  in  the  State  library 
at  Sacramento,  contains  statements  of  facts  which  seem  almost 
incredible,  even  with  our  present  knowledge  of  Mormon  law 
and  its  administration  ;  but  they  rest  on  the  sworn  testimony  of 
reliable  men,  who  now  reside  in  California.  It  roused  all  the 
old  bitterness  of  feeling  against  the  Mormons,  which  was  not  a 
little  heightened  soon  after  by  the  shameless  avowal  on  their 
part  of  polygamy  and  incest  as  features  of  their  religion. 

The  Saints  had  reached  Utah  with  a  complete  ecclesiastical 
government  in  operation  which,  in  such  perfect  isolation,  under 
the  iron  will  and  cunning  head  of  Brigham  Young,  rapidly 
developed  into  a  despotism.  As  far  as  they  were  concerned  they 
would  probably  have  needed  no  other  government;  but  they 
soon  saw  that  Gentiles  would  come  and  apostates  might  develop, 
and  a  government  which  could  make  up  an  official  record  fit  to 
be  inspected  by  a  prying  United  States  appointee  was  a  neces- 
sity. So  they  organized  the  State  of  Deseret  in  March,  1849. 
It  was  to  include  all  the  present  Utah  and  Nevada,  all  of  Col- 
orado west  of  the  summit,  that  part  of  California  in  the  Great 
Basin,  and  the  nearest  sections  of  Arizona,  New  Mexico, 
Idaho  and  Oregon  !  Of  course  there  was  not  a  dissenting 
vote,  and  the  whole  official  machinery  of  the  Church  was 
simply  floated  into  the  new  State,  thus:  Governor,  Brigham 
Young;  Lieuteuant-Governor,  Heber  C.  Kimball;  Chief  Jus- 
tice, Daniel  H.  Wells  (a  justice  of  the  peace  in  Illinois !)  and 
the  two  houses  of  the  legislature  filled  by  the  apostles  and 
leading  elders. 

It  is  difficult  to  find  in  our  history  any  inchoate  government 
with  so  many  of  the  ear-marks  of  treason  about  it  as  this  State 
of  Deseret.  But  it  still  exists,  goes  through  the  motions  every 
year,  and  has  its  laws  formally  enacted  by  the  Utah  legislature; 
Deseret  is  the  prophetic  name,  and  if  Congress  ever  admits 
Utah  by  that  title,  the  Saints  will  see  in  it  the  direct  fulfillment 
of  prophecy.  But  Congress,  in  the  long  session  of  1849-50, 
had  carved  up  the  territory  acquired  from  Mexico,  and  the 
Organic  Act  creating  Utah  received  the  signature  of  President 
Fillmore,  September  9, 1850.  Captain  Stanshury  had  reported 


AND    CHIMES    OF    MORMON  ISM.  123 

that  Brigham  was  good  and  kind,  and  it  would  be  a  graceful 
thing  to  make  him  governor.  The  President  asked  about  the 
charges  as  to  polygamy,  and  Colonel  Thomas  L.  Kane  hastened 
to  assure  him  that  it  was  all  a  vile  slander.  He  had  lived  with 
Brigham  Young  in  his  tent  when  the  latter  had  four  wives, 
and  heard  and  seen  nothing ;  yet  he  seems  to  be  grieved  that 
people  do  not  promptly  accept  all  his  later  statements  as  to 
Mormon  purity.  On  his  testimony  President  Fillmore  made 
Brigham  governor.  Now  the  Saints  claim  that  he  did  so  with 
full  knowledge  of  their  polygamy,  and  that  government  is 
therefore  estopped  from  interfering  with  it!  In  return  for  this 
courtesy,  Brigham  soon  after  preached  one  of  his  lively  sermons, 
in  which  he  said :  "  Why  when  that  time  comes  '(the  earthly 
reign  of  the  Saints)  the  Gentiles  will  come  begging  to  us  to  be 
our  servants.  I  know  several  men,  high  in  office  in  the  nation, 
who  would  make  good  servants.  I  expect  the  President  of  the 
United  States  to  black  my  boots"  This  was,  to  say  the  least, 
unkind  of  Brigham.  At  the  same  time,  Lemuel  C.  Branden- 
burg was  appointed  Chief  Justice;  Perry  E*  Brochus,  and 
Zerubbabel  Snow  (Mormon),  Associate  Justices ;  Seth  M.  Blair 
(Mormon),  Attorney  General,  and  B.  D.  Harris,  Secretary. 
Thus  the  President  had  divided  the  offices  pretty  equally 
between  Saint  and  Gentile.  The  officials  did  not  reach  Utah 
till  July,  1851,  at  which  time  there  were  a  few  Gentiles  resi- 
dent in  Salt  Lake  City,  mostly  carpenters  and  other  artisans 
whose  labor  was  just  then  in  special  demand,  emigrants  who 
had  failed  at  that  poii>t  on  their  way  to  the  Pacific,  and  perhaps 
half  a  dozen  California  traders  or  cattle-dealers.  The  new  Gen- 
tile officials  soon  found  themselves  involved  in  difficulty ;  Judge 
Brochus  rashly  attempted  to  preach  against  polygamy,  and 
having  his  life  threatened  soon  after  left  the  Territory,  fol- 
lowed, in  1852,  by  Secretary  Harris,  leaving  the  government 
once  more  in  the  hands  of  the  Mormons.  Brigham  Young 
appointed  his  second  counsellor,  Willard  Richards,  to  fill  the 
vacant  Secretaryship,  the  sole  remaining  Judge,  Z.  Snow,  and 
the  District  Attorney  being  "  good  Mormons." 

The  peculiar  condition  at  that  time  is  amusingly  illustrated 


124  POLYGAMY;     OR,    THE    MYSTERIES 

by  the  old  court  records  and  copies  of  state  papers.  One  is 
never  quite  clear  with  the  latter  whether  he  is  perusing  a  ser- 
mon, a  stump  speech,  a  military  address,  or  a  vulgar  parody  on 
the  Bible.  Here,  by  way  of  illustration,  is  Governor  Brigham 
Young's  first  Thanksgiving  Proclamation  : 

"TERRITORY  OF  UTAH. 
"A  Proclamation  for  a  Day  of  Praise  and  Thanksgiving. 

"It  having  pleased  the  Father  of  all  good  to  make  known 
his  mind  and  will  to  the  children  of  men  in  these  last  days, 
and  through  the  administration  of  his  angels  to  restore  the 
holy  priesthood  unto  the  sons  of  Adam,  by  which  the  gospel  of 
his  Son  has  been  proclaimed,  and  the  ordinances  of  life  and 
salvation  are  administered;  and  through  which  medium  the 
Holy  Ghost  has  been  communicated  to  believing,  willing,  and 
honest  minds ;  causing  faith,  wisdom,  and  intelligence  to  spring 
up  in  the  hearts  of  men,  and  influencing  them  to  flow  together, 
from  the  four  quarters  of  the  earth,  to  a  land  of  peace  and 
health,  rich  in  mineral  and  vegetable  resources,  reserved  of  old 
in  the  councils  of  eternity  for  the  purposes  to  which  it  is  now 
appropriated ;  a  land  choice  above  all  other  lands ;  far  removed 
from  the  strife,  contentions,  divisions,  moral  and  physical  com- 
motions, that  are  disturbing  the  peace  of  the  nations  and  king- 
doms of  the  earth : 

"I,  Brigham  Young,  Governor  of  the  Territory  aforesaid, 
etc.,  etc.  ******* 

"And  I  recommend  to  all  good  citizens  of  Utah,  that  they 
abstain  from  everything  which  is  calculated  to  mar  or  grieve 
the  spirit  of  their  Heavenly  Father  on  that  day ;  that  they  rise 
early  in  the  morning  of  the  first  day  of  the  new  year,  and  wash 
their  bodies  with  pure  -water  ;  that  all  men  attend  to  their  flocks 
and  herds  with  carefulness,  and  see  that  no  creature  in  their 
charge  is  hungry,  thirsty,  or  cold;  while  the  women  are  pre- 
paring the  best  of  food  for  their  households,  and  their  children 
ready  to  receive  it  in  cleanliness  and  cheerfulness ;  then  let  the 
head  of  each  family  with  his  family,  bow  down  upon  his  knee? 


AND   CRIMES   OF    MORMONISM.  125 

before  the  God  of  Israel,  and  acknowledge  all  his  sins,  and  the 
sins  of  his  household ;  call  upon  the  Father,  in  the  name  of 
Jesus,  for  every  blessing  that  he  desires  for  himself,  his  kindred, 
the  Israel  of  God,  the  universe  of  man  ;  praying  with  full  pur- 
pose of  heart  and  united  faith.  .*  *  * 

"  Retire  to  your  beds  early,  that  you  may  be  refreshed,  and 
rise  early  again,  and  so  continue,  until  times  and  seasons  are 
changed ;  or  finally,  I  say  unto  you,  let  the  same  process  be 
continued  from  day  to  day,  until  you  arrive  unto  one  of  the 
days  of  Kolob,  [where  a  day  is  1,000  of  our  years,]  the  planet 
nearest  to  the  habitation  of  the  Eternal  Father ;  and  if  you  do 
not  find  peace  and  rest  to  your  souls  by  that  time,  in  the  prac- 
tice of  these  things,  and  no  one  else  shall  present  himself  to 
offer  you  better  counsel,  I  will  be  there,  and  knowing  more,  will 
tell  you  what  you  ought  to  do  next. 

"  Done  at  the  Executive  Office,  Great  Salt  Lake 
City.  In  witness  whereof,  I  have  hereunto  set  my 
FSEAT  1  nan^  an(l  caused  the  seal  of  the  Territory  to  be 
affixed,  this  19th  day  of  December,  A.  D.  1851, 
and  of  the  Independence  of  the  United  States  the 
seventy-sixth. 

"  By  the  Governor,  BRIGHAM  YOUNG. 

"  W.  RICHARDS,  Sec.  pro  tern.,  appointed  by  the  Governor." 

Think  of  such  stuff  as  this,  from  an  American  governor, 
appointed  by  an  American  President,  and  confirmed  by  an 
American  Senate,  and  under  a  Constitution  which  imperatively 
forbids  all  joining  of  state  and  church  ! 

For  three  years  after  the  territory  was  organized,  Governor 
Brigham  Young  and  the  apostolic  legislature  literally  rushed 
things.  The  whole  official  list  of  Deseret  was  re-elected  in  the 
mass  for  Utah ;  Hon.  John  M.  Bernhisel  was  even  selected  for 
delegate  to  Congress,  and  far  on  his  way  to  Washington,  before 
the  election  was  held.  The  people  then  as  now  voted  unani- 
mously as  the  church  directed — and  Brigham  was  the  church. 
The  legislature  proceeded  to  divide  all  the  valuable  privileges 
in  the  territory  among  themselves  and  the  Mormon  leaders,  by 


POLYGAMY;    Oil,    THE    MYSTERIES 

a  system  they  called  "grants."  All  the  timber  and  water- 
power  of  any  consequence  was  thus  withdrawn  from  pre-emp- 
tion ;  and  many  years  after,  when  the  officials  of  the  Land 
Department  compelled  an  inquiry  into  some  of  these  claims, 
the  Mormon  people,  at  the  oommaud  of  the  church,  obtained 
United  States  patents  in  the  legal  way,  and  at  once  transferred 
the  title  to  the  old  priestly  grantee.  But  in  all  their  triumph 
there  was  one  bitter  cup :  Secretary  Harris  had  taken  with  him 
the  §24,000  provided  by  the  national  government  to  pay  the 
legislature;  and  though  Brigham  Young  sought  to  restrain 
him,  he  stuck  to  it  and  returned  it  to  Washington.  This  he 
did  on  the  ground  that  Governor  Young  had  exceeded  his 
authority  in  various  ways,  and  the  Washington  officials  sus- 
tained the  Secretary.  But  Brigham  gloried  greatly  in  having 
scared  the  officials  away,  and  in  a  sermon,  published  in  the 
Mormon  papers  and  still  extant,  used  this  language : 

"  When  the  officers  returned  from  this  Territory  to  the 
States,  did  we  send  them  away?  We  did  not.  I  will  tell  you 
what  I  did,  and  what  I  will  do  again.  I  did  chastise  the  poor, 
mean  ruffian — the  poor,  miserable  creature  who  came  here  by 
the  name  of  Brochus — when  he  arose  before  this  people,  to 
preach  to  them,  and  tell  them  of  meanness  which  he  supposed 
they  were  guilty  of,  and  traduce  their  characters 

"  It  is  true,  as  it  is  said  in  the  report  of  these  officers,  if  I 
had  crooked  my  little  finger  he  would  have  been  used  up. 
But  I  did  not  bend  it.  If  I  had,  the  sisters  alone  felt  indig- 
nant enough  to  have  chopped  him  in  pieces.  I  did  not  do  it, 
however,  but  suffered  him  to  fill  up  the  measure  of  his  shame 
and  iniquity,  until  his  cup  is  running  over. 

"  I  have  no  fears  whatever  of  Franklin  Pierce  excusing  me 
from  office,  and  saying  that  another  man  shall  be  the  governor 
of  this  Territory.  At  the  beginning  of  our  settlements,  when 
we  sent  Almon  W.  Babbitt  to  Washington  with  our  constitu- 
tion for  a  State  government,  and  to  ask  leave  to  adopt  it,  he 
requested  that  I  should  not  sign  my  name  to  it  as  governor ; 
'  for/  said  he,  *  if  you  do,  it  will  thwart  all  our  plans/  I  said, 
'  My  name  will  go  as  it  is  in  that  document,  and  stay  there, 


AND   CRIMES   OF   MORMONISM.  127 

from  this  time  henceforth  and  forever.  Now/  I  continued,  '  if 
you  do  not  believe  it,  you  may  go  to  Washington,  and  give 
those  papers  to  Dr.  Bernheisel,  and  operate  against  him, 
and  against  our  getting  a  State  government,  and  you  cannot 
hinder  it/ 

"I  will  be  governor  still,  after  you  have  done  everything 
you  possibly  can  to  prevent  it.  We  have  got  a  territorial 
government,  and  I  am  and  will  be  governor,  and  no  power  can 
hinder  it,  until  the  Lord  Almighty  says,  '  Brigham,  you  need 
not  be  governor  any  longer/  and  then  I  am  willing  to  yield  to 
another  governor." 

This  sermon  was  preached  at  Great  Salt  Lake  City,  June 
19th,  1853,  and  is  published  in  the  "Journal  of  Discourses," 
vol.  i.,  p.  188. 

The  judges  who  had  resigned  published  an  account  in  'the 
Eastern  States ;  but  as  they  were  themselves  men  of  slightly 
doubtful  morals,  and  as  Utah  was  a  long  ways  off,  the  govern- 
ment quietly  ignored  the  matter — a  fatal  error,  as  it  proved. 
In  their  place  the  President  appointed  Judges  Leonidas  Shaver 
and  Lazarus  H.  Reed ;  the  former  arrived  in  the  fall  of  1852, 
the  latter  in  June,  1853.  Judge  Shaver  was  a  genial  gentle- 
man and  lived  on  the  best  of  terms  with  the  Mormons  for  some 
time,  but  at  length  a  sudden  quarrel  occurred  between  him  and 
Brigham  Young.  He  occupied  a  room  in  a  house  belonging  to 
Elder  Howard  Coray,  but  rented  by  a  Mr.  Dotson.  One 
night  he  retired  in  his  usual  health,  and  the  next  morning  was 
found  dead  in  his  bed.  The  church  authorities  ordered  a 
thorough  investigation,  and  the  coroner's  jury  of  Mormons 
decided  that  he  died  of  "some  disease  of  the  head."  One  phy- 
sician gave  it  as  his  opinion,  that  the  Judge  had  been  greatly 
addicted  to  the  use  of  opium,  and  died  in  consequence  of  being 
suddenly  deprived  of  it ;  and  this  is  the  popular  belief  among 
the  Mormons.  Only  one  witness  on  this  matter  was  ever  ex- 
amined in  the  States,  and  she  gave  it  as  her  opinion  that  he 
had  been  poisoned,  adding  that  she  had  heard  Brigham  Young 
say:  "Judge  Shaver  knew  too  much,  and  he  dare  not  allow 
him  to  leave  the  Territory."  Her  evidence  may  be  true  or  uu- 


128 


POLYGAMY;    OR,   THE   MYSTERIES 


true.  The  Mormons  treated  Judge  Reed  with  marked  courtesy, 
and  after  a  stay  of  one  year  he  left  with  an  exalted  opinion  of 
them.  He  went  to  his  home  in  New  York,  intending  to  re- 
turn, but  died  very  suddenly  while  there. 

About  this  time  a  young  man  named  Wallace  A.  C.  Bow- 
man, a  native  of  New  York,  arrived  at  Salt  Lake  from  New 
Mexico,  with  a  company  of  Spanish  traders.  He  met  Brigham 
Young  and  his  body  guard  at  Utah  Lake,  and,  according  to  his 

companion's  account,  had  some 
difficulty  with  the  latter.  On 
his  arrival  in  the  city,  he  was 
arrested  by  Robert  T.  Burton  on 
several  charges.  He  was  kept 
in  confinement  several  weeks, 
but  no  evidence  appearing 
against  him  was  released.  He 
started  east  at  once,  but  was 
shot  and  instantly  killed  in  a 
carton  but  a  few  miles  from  the 
city,  "  by  Indians,"  according  to 
the  Mormon  account ;  by  Nor- 
ton and  Ferguson,  "Danites," 
according  to  the  same  witness 
above  mentioned.  As  in  that 
case,  it  is  now  impossible  to  tell 
which  story  is  true.  John  F. 
Kinney,of  Iowa,  was  appointed  Chief- Justice  to  succeed  Reed,  and 
George  P.  Stiles  Associate-Justice ;  Joseph  Holman,  of  Iowa, 
Attorney-General,  and  Alrnou  W.  Babbitt  Secretary.  In  the 
spring  of  1855,  W.  W.  Drummond,  of  Illinois,  was  also 
appointed  Associate-Justice. 

In  the  fall  of  1854,  Colonel  Steptoe,  with  about  three  hun- 
dred men  of  the  United  States  army,  reached  Salt  Lake  and 
spent  the  winter.  At  the  same  time  quite  a  number  of  Gentiles, 
on  their  way  to  or  returning  from  California,  wintered  in  the 
city.  It  is  now  known  that  Colonel  Steptoe  had  been  secretly 
commissioned  Governor  of  Utah  by  President  Pierce,  but,  being 


MURDER  OF  WALLACE  BOWMAN. 


AND   CRIMES   OF    MORMONISM.  129 

of  an  incautious  disposition,  he  attempted,  according  to  the 
popular  account  in  Utah,  to  practice  polygamy  on  a  free  and 
easy  plan  not  approved  by  the  Saints,  the  result  of  which  was 
that  he  was  ingeniously  trapped  by  two  of  Brigham's  "  decoy 
women,"  and  to  avoid  exposure  resigned  his  commission  and 
recommended  Young's  continuance  in  that  office.  Utah  now 
began  to  be  regarded  as  the  "  Botany  Bay  of  worn-out  politi- 
cians ;  "  if  a  man  was  fit  for  nothing  else,  and  yet  had  to  be 
rewarded  for  political  services,  he  was  sent  to  Utah. 

During  all  the  period  from  1852  to  1856  numerous  "  Glad- 
denites  "  and  other  apostate  and  recusant  Mormons  were  fre- 
quently slipping  away  and  crossing  to  California ;  and  some  of 
these,  as  well  as  Gentile  trains,  were  harassed  in  a  way  which 
made  them  believe  it  was  done  by  Mormons  disguised  as 
Indians.  Almon  W.  Babbitt,  having  quarrelled  with  Brigham, 
started  across  the  plains  and  was  murdered — by  whom  is  not 
known.  Brigham  afterwards  used  this  language  of  Babbitt: 
"  He  lived  a  fool  and  died  like  a  fool.  When  such  men  under- 
take to  interfere  with  affairs  that  do  not  concern  them,  I  will 
not  be  far  off.  He  undertook  to  quarrel  with  me,  and  was 
killed  by  the  Indians."  In  1852,  Lieutenant  Gunnison  and 
party  were  massacred  near  Sevier  Lake,  by  Indians,  as  was 
proved;  but  there  has  always  been  a  suspicion  that  the  latter 
were  aided  and  incited  by  Mormons.  About  the  same  time 
parties  of  recusant  Mormons  were  missed  in  Nevada ;  several 
emigrants  from  Missouri  were  last  heard  of  near  Salt  Lake,  and 
others  had  their  stock  run  off  where  it  was  reasonably  certain 
there  were  no  hostile  Indians. 

A  recusant  testifies  that  "  one  of  the  Missourians  had  boasted 
of  helping  to  drive  the  Saints  from  Jackson  county,  and  that  he 
was  kidnapped  and  murdered  under  the  old  mint  by  John  Kay 
and  other  l  Danites.' "  A  young  man  in  Cache  Valley  had  a 
difficulty  with  the  bishop  in  regard  to  a  girl  whom  the  bishop 
wanted  for  a  "  plural  wife."  The  young  man  was  seized  in  a 
cation  by  two  men  with  blackened  faces  and  by  them  mutilated 
in  an  unspeakable  manner.  He  afterwards  went  to  San  Ber- 
nardino, California,  and  died  insane.  A  similar  difficulty  arose 
9 


130  POLYGAMY;   OR,   THE    MYSTERIES 

in  a  settlement  on  the  "Weber,  and  the  young  man  was  found 
dead,  having  received  two  shots  in  the  back.  One  general 
difficulty  exists  in  all  these  cases.  The  witnesses  were  all 
apostate  Mormons.  While  the  writer  would  not  stigmatize  a 
whole  class,  among  whom  he  has  many  pleasant  acquaintances, 
and  which  contains  some  thoroughly  honest  and  reliable  men, 
yet  it  must  be  confessed  that,  of  those  who  have  lived  Mormons 
for  a  term  of  years  the  outside  world  must  always  remain  in 
doubt. 

There  were  very  few  Gentiles  in  Salt  Lake,  their  interest  re- 
quired that  they  should  know  nothing  outside  their  business, 
and  they  generally  took  care  to  make  no  inquiry.  Hence  little 
definite  and  positive  proof  of  the  affairs  of  that  period  was  laid 
before  the  Government ;  but  these  reports  spread  through  the 
West  and  constantly  increased  the  bitterness  against  the  Mor- 
mons. Had  the  latter  shown  any  willingness  to  throw  light 
upon  disputed  points,  their  case  would  have  a  much  better  ap- 
pearance. But  their  preaching  constantly  excited  the  people  to 
greater  hostility  against  the  Government,  and  their  courts  and 
officers  regularly  thwarted  every  attempt  of  the  Federal  officials 
to  inquire  into  reported  crimes  or  bring  offenders  to  justice.  In 
the  fall  of  1856,  it  became  no  longer  possible  for  the  Federal 
Judges  to  maintain  the  independence  of  their  courts.  The 
Mormons  claimed  that  the  Territorial  Marshal  should  select  the 
jurors  for  Federal  courts  when  doing  Territorial  business, 
instead  of  the  United  States  Marshal. 

Pending  the  decision  of  this  question,  James  Ferguson, 
Hosea  Stout,  and  other  Mormon  lawyers  and  officials,  entered 
the  court-room  with  an  armed  mob,  and  compelled  Judge  Stiles 
to  adjourn  his  court.  Thomas  Williams,  a  Mormon  lawyer, 
who  had  an  office  with  Judge  Stiles,  protested  against  this 
action,  for  which  his  life  was  threatened.  He  soon  after  tried 
to  escape  to  California,  but  was  murdered  on  the  way.  The 
records  of  the  District  Courts  were  soon  after  stolen  from  Judge 
Stiles'  office  and,  as  he  supposed  at  the  time,  destroyed.  Both 
the  Gentile  Judges  soon  after  fled  the  Territory,  escaping  to  the 
States  only  with  great  difficulty,  leaving  Utah  without  a  repre- 


AND   CRIMES   OF    MORMONISM. 


J31 


sentative  of  the  United  States,  and  practically  in  open   rebel- 
lion. 

Thus,  at  the  end  of  nine  years'  toleration  and  temporizing 
affairs  in  Utah  had  reached  substantially  the  same  condition  as 
they  reached  in  six  years  in  Missouri,  and  in  less  time  in 
Illinois.  But  the  situation  was  different.  There  was  no  sur- 
rounding population  to  appeal  to,  and  Brigham  was  absolute. 
And  in  this  condition  there  occurred  two  series  of  tragedies 
without  parallel  in  American  history,  a  chain  of  events  which 
would  be  utterly  incredible  if  the  evidence  were  any  less  than 
positive  and  unassailable.  These  events,  known  in  Utah  as  the 
"  Reformation "  and  the  "  Hand-cart  Immigration,"  together 
cost  some  400  lives,  and  as  they  constitute  the  central  events  of 
Utah  history  and  illustrate  in  a  marked  degree  the  essentials 
of  religious  fanaticism,  their  narration  requires  a  separate 
chapter. 


BCTBN1NG  OF  MORMON 


:MPLE  AT  N-ATJVOQ. 


132  POLYGAMY;   OB,   THE   MYSTERIES 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

THE   REIGN   OF  TERROR. 

Epidemic  madness — All  Utah  goes  crazy — The  Mormon  empire  projected : 
1,200  by  800  miles  in  area — Outposts  from  British  America  to  Mexico — The 
hand-cart  scheme — Horrible  suffering — The  "Reformation  " — Jeddy  Grant 
— Blood-atonement — Mutilation  and  murder — "  Shed  his  blood  and  save  his 
soul" — Murder  of  the  Parrishes,  Potter,  Henry  Jones  and  mother,  the 
bishop's  wife,  and  many  others — Recovery  from  the  madness-s-Startling 
news  from  Washington — War  at  hand  and  a  fresh  impulse  of  madness. 

WE  enter  now  upon  the  black  chapter  in  the  annals  of  Utah. 
Within  the  short  space  of  three  years  the  record  tells  of  mur- 
ders and  maimings  almost  innumerable,  of  rebellion,  war, 
flight  and  massacre,  of  wild  sacrifice  of  human  life  by  disregard 
of  nature's  law,  and  a  reign  of  lust  and  fanatical  fury  unequalled 
since  the  dark  ages.  In  no  other  part  of  America  could  such 
events  have  happened ;  nor  could  they  in  Utah  had  not  an  ex- 
traordinary series  of  crimes  and  misfortunes  prepared  the  people 
to  enact  them.  It  is  said  that  Bishop  Butler  once  turned  upon 
his  secretary  with  this  question : 

"Why  may  not  whole  communities  go  mad  as  well  as 
individuals  ?  " 

The  startled  secretary  could  only  suggest  a  reliance  on  provi- 
dence to  prevent  such  a  wholesale  calamity.  But  history  shows 
that  providence  occasionally  gives  up  a  people  to  the  full  con- 
sequences of  their  folly,  and  that  whole  communities  do  go 
mad.  Were  I  legal  counsel  for  a  Mormon,  on  trial  for  crime 
committed  at  the  time  under  consideration,  I  should  plead 
wholesale  insanity ;  for  there  is  evidence  sufficient  to  convince 
an  impartial  jury  that  the  whole  Mormon  community  went 
insane  in  1856.  Perhaps  this  can  be  partly  understood  by  a 
review  of  the  exciting  causes. 


AND   CRIMES    OF    MORMONISM.  133 

When  the  Latter-day  Saints  left  Illinois,  20,000  strong,  they 
hurled  back  apostolic  curses  at  the  whole  Gentile  nation.  That 
nation,  they  said,  had  rejected  the  gospel  by  the  murder  of  the 
Prophet  and  Patriarch,  and  should  perish  in  its  sins.  In  the 
Rocky  Mountains  the  Saints  would  establish  a  kingdom,  and  in 
due  time  take  vengeance  on  their  enemies.  In  the  endowment 
oaths,  every  true  Mormon  was  sworn  to  avenge  the  death  of 
Joseph  Smith.  A  peculiar  system  of  diplomacy  and  attempt 
to  establish  a  theocracy  in  the  States,  had  brought  the  Saints  into 
conflict  with  the  Americans,  and  now  that  conflict  was  made 
the  means  of  uniting  them  more  solidly  against  the  Gentile 
world.  With  the  doctrine  of  a  temporal  kingdom  came  in  the 
]ong  train  of  Hebraic  similes :  the  Church  was  in  bondage  in 
Egypt ;  it  was  in  the  wilderness  of  Zin ;  it  was  to  overthrow 
the  Amalekites  (Missourians),  and  repeat  all  the  wonderful 
achievements  in  the  fruitful  annals  of  Israel.  And  as  the 
Amalekites  resisted,  and  many  Mormons  grew  disaffected,  all 
the  bloody  devices  of  the  ancient  Hebrews  were  legalized,  and 
thus  Mormonism  became  the  terrible  thing  it  was  in  1856 
and  '57. 

Once  fairly  established  in  Utah,  the  civil  government  in 
their  own  hands,  the  Indians  subjugated  or  conciliated,  and  the 
fear  of  famine  removed,  all  the  old  zeal  for  an  earthly  kingdom 
revived  with  increased  vigor.  Then  was  marked  out  the 
boundaries  of  a  great  mountain  empire,  to  be  filled  and 
possessed  exclusively  by  Saints :  bounded  on  the  west  by  the 
Sierra  Nevadas  and  Cascade  Range,  on  the  east  by  the  Rocky 
Mountain  summits  in  Colorado  and  Wyoming,  and  stretch- 
ing from  British  America  to  Mexico,  an  area  of  800  by  1,200 
miles  was  to  be  the  territory  of  Zion,  with  Salt  Lake  City  as 
the  capital,  outposts  at  every  commanding  point,  Mormon 
farmers  in  every  fertile  valley,  and  their  flocks  and  herds  rang- 
ing the  hills.  It  was  calculated  that  no  Pacific  railway  would 
be  built  for  at  least  half  a  century  ;  that  all  Gentile  emigration 
would  stop  near  the  Missouri ;  that  in  their  own  domain  the 
Saints  would  only  have  to  deal  with  the  overland  traveler,  and 
the  occasional  miner  and  hunter.  By  bringing  fresh  thousands 


134  POLYGAMY;    OR,    THE    MYSTERIES 

of  Saints  every  year  from  Europe,  with  the  rapid  increase  they 
then  expected  to  result  from  polygamy,  they  might  reasonably 
hope  to  people  this  area  long  before  national  development 
should  overtake  them,  and  be  in  a  condition  to  dictate  terms 
when  the  Union  should  be  dissolved  and  the  nation  fall  into 
anarchy,  as  the  Prophet  Joseph  had  predicted  it  must  do  by  or 
before  1890.  Filled  with  this  inspiring  idea,  the  colonists 
went  out  from  Salt  Lake  to  their  distant  posts,  full  of 
enthusiasm,  and  singing  the  "  Battle  Hymn  of  the  Mormon 
Theocracy  : " 

"  In  thy  mountain  retreat,  God  will  strengthen  thy  feet ; 

On  the  necks  of  thy  foes  thou  shalt  tread  ; 
And  their  silver  and  gold,  as  the  prophets  have  told, 

Shall  be  brought  to  adorn  thy  fair  head. 
O  Zion !  dear  Zion !  home  of  the  free, 

Soon  thy  towers  will  shine  with  a  splendour  divine, 
And  eternal  thy  glory  shall  be. 

"Here  our  voices  we'll  raise,  and  we'll  sing  to  thy  praise, 

Sacred  home  of  the  prophets  of  God ; 
Thy  deliverance  is  nigh,  thy  oppressors  shall  die, 

And  the  Gentiles  shall  bow  'nealh  thy  rod. 
O  Zion  !  dear  Zion  !  home  of  the  free, 

In  thy  temples  we'll  bend,  all  thy  rights  we'll  defend, 
And  our  home  shall  be  ever  with  thee." 

Four  hundred  young  men  went  to  the  distant  post  of  Lemhi, 
Idaho,  instructed  to  take  wives  of  the  surrounding  Indians, 
and  form  close  alliances  with  all  the  tribes  in  that  section. 
Orson  Hyde,  acting  as  judge,  apostle  and  general,  led  seventy 
families  westward  to  the  foot  of  the  Sierra  Nevadas,  and  nearly 
all  of  what  is  now  Nevada  was  organized  as  Carson  county, 
Utah.  A  still  larger  detachment  went  to  San  Bernardino, 
California,  took  possession  of  the  fertile  little  valley  of  the 
Santa  Ana,  and  founded  a  very  flourishing  community  there. 
The  southern  settlements  were  pushed  as  rapidly  as  possible 
towards  the  Colorado,  and  the  culture  of  cotton  and  the  vine 
and  fig  was  established  in  what  is  called  "Mormon  Dixie." 
Another  line  of  posts  and  settlements  was  extended  out  to  and 


AND   CRIMES   OF    MORMONISM.  135 

along  Green  river,  where  the  Mormons  bought  out  a  few 
frontiersmen,  and  took  possession  of  the  ferries.  Missionaries, 
single  and  in  pairs,  and  companies,  went  among  all  the  Indian 
tribes  of  the  mountain  region,  and  even  now  a  few  of  the 
survivors  remain  at  various  points.  Misfortune  soon  overtook 
nearly  all  these  outposts,  but  at  first  their  prospects  were  quite 
flattering. 

Meanwhile  the  immigration  from  Europe  was  entirely  too 
slow  for  the  ambitious  mind  of  Brigham  Young.  The  cost 
of  the  trip  from  Liverpool  to  Salt  Lake  was  not  less  than 
$60  for  each  person ;  and  thirty  thousand  Saints  were 
waiting  till  they  could  raise  the  amount.  So  in  the  winter 
of  1855-6  Brigham  and  his  chief  men  devised  a  new  scheme — 
the  faithful  were  to  cross  the  plains  with  hand-carts,  each 
hauling  his  own  baggage  and  provision.  As  soon  as  the  order 
could  reach  England  it  was  obeyed;  and  in  a  little  while  about 
2,000  of  the  middle  and  poorer  class  of  converts  had  reached 
Iowa  City — then  their  outfiting  point.  Much  time  was  con- 
sumed in  constructing  the  carts.  They  were  made  in  a 
hurry,  some  of  them  of  very  insufficiently  seasoned  timber, 
and  strength  was  sacrificed  to  lightness  until  the  production 
was  a  fragile  structure.  They  were  generally  made  of  two 
parallel  hickory  or  oak  sticks,  about  five  feet  long,  and  two  by 
one  and  a  half  inches  thick.  These  were  connected  by  one 
cross-piece  at  one  end  to  serve  as  a  handle,  and  three  or  four 
similar  pieces  nearly  a  foot  apart,  commencing  at  the  other  end, 
to  serve  as  the  bed  of  the  cart,  under  the  centre  of  which  was 
fastened  a  wooden  axle-tree,  without  iron  skeins.  A  pair  of 
light  wheels,  devoid  of  iron,  except  a  very  light  iron  tire, 
completed  the  "  divine  "  hand-cart.  Its  weight  was  somewhere 
near  sixty  pounds. 

The  first  detachment  of  five  hundred  got  an  early  start,  and 
being  composed  largely  of  young  men,  entered  Salt  Lake  valley 
just  as  the  first  snow  of  autumn  was  falling.  But  the  second 
detachment  were  not  ready  to  leave  the  Missouri  till  the  second 
week  in  August.  To  each  hundred  there  were  five  round  tents, 
and  one  heavy  wagon  drawn  by  three  yoke  of  oxen;  each  person 


136 

was  limited  to  seventeen  pounds  of  baggage,  to  be  put  in  the 
hand-carts,  while  the  provisions  and  tents  were  hauled  in  the 
wagons.  This  division  of  five  hundred  was  thus  made  up:  one 
hundred  and  twenty  stout  men,  three  hundred  women,  and 
children  old  enough  to  walk,  a  few  older  men  and  seventy 
babies,  to  be  carried  by  their  parents  or  hauled  upon  the  carts — 
this  feeble  party  starting  to  traverse  eleven  hundred  miles  of  moun- 
tain and  desert  in  the  closing  weeks  of  the  season.  In  the  whole 
division  were  but  four,  returning  missionaries,  who  had  been  to 
the  valley.  Incredible  as  it  may  appear,  all  these  urged  them 
on  but  one :  Levi  Savage  said  that,  prophecy  or  no  prophecy, 
the  risk  was  too  great,  and  urged  a  halt  till  the  next  season. 
The  elders  rebuked  him,  and  prophesied  in  the  name  of  Israel's 
God  that  not  a  flake  should  fall  on  them.  "  You  will  hear  of 
storms  to  the  right  and  the  left,  but  a  way  will  be  opened." 
Thus  equipped  and  encouraged  by  prophecy,  they  set  out 
August  18th,  singing  in  cheerful  concert: 

"A  church  without  a  prophet  is  not  the  church  for  ine ; 
It  has  no  head  to  lead  it,  in  it  I  would  not  be ; 

But  I've  a  church  not  built  by  man, 

Cut  from  the  mountain  without  hand, 

A  church  with  gifts  and  blessings,  oh,  that's  the  church  for  me, 
Oh,  that's  the  church  for  me,  oh,  that's  the  church  for  me. 

"The  God  that  others  worship  is  not  the  God  for  me; 
He  has  no  parts  nor  body,  and  cannot  hear  nor  see ; 

But  I've  a  God  that  lives  above, 

A  God  of  Power  and  of  Love, 
A  God  of  Revelation,  oh,  that's  the  God  for  me. 

"A  church  without  apostles  is  not  the  church  for  me ; 
It's  like  a  ship  dismasted  afloat  upon  the  sea ; 

But  I've  a  church  that's  always  led 

By  the  twelve  stars  around  its  head, 
A  church  with  good  foundations,  oh,  that's  the  church  for  me. 

"  The  hope  that  Gentiles  cherish  is  not  the  hope  for  me, 
It  has  no  hope  for  knowledge,  far  from  it  I  would  be ; 

But  I've  a  hope  that  will  not  fail, 

That  reaches  safe  within  the  veil, 
Which  hope  is  like  an  anchor,  oh,  that's  the  hope  for  me." 


AND    CRIMES   OF    MORMONISM.  137 

But  neither  hope  nor  faith  changed  the  harsh  climate  of  the 
high  plains,  and  seven  weeks  of  travel  left  them  still  four  hun- 
dred miles  from  Zion,  in  the  heart  of  the  high  Rockies,  almost 
out  of  provisions,  worn  down,  sick,  apparently  forgotten  of  God 
and  abandoned  by  man.  It  was  then  the  inborn  nobleness  of 
the  English  race  shone  out.  Men  toiled  on  day  after  day, 
hauling  and  even  carrying  women  and  children,  wading  ice- 
cold  streams  with  the  feeble  in  their  arms,  in  many  cases  carry- 
ing their  little  children  in  the  morning  and  themselves  dying 
before  night.  Fainting  fathers  took  the  scant  rations  from  their 
lips  and  fed  their  crying  children ;  mothers  carried  their  babes  till 
they  sank  exhausted  in  the  snow,  and  young  men  nerved  them- 
selves to  suffer  everything  for  those  they  loved.  Day  after  day 
the  train  struggled  on  in  silence  and  sorrow,  and  every  morning 
saw  from  one  to  ten  of  their  number  cold  in  death.  Daily  the 
survivors  grew  weaker  from  exposure  and  insufficient  food :  old 
men  died  as  easily  as  a  lamp  goes  out  when  the  oil  is  ex- 
hausted ;  women  died  as  a  child  goes  to  sleep;  young  men  died 
sitting  by  the  camp-fire,  with  their  scant  rations  in  their 
mouths. 

A  relief  party  reached  this  company  and  brought  it  in  when 
one-fifth  of  its  force  had  died.  They  reached  the  city  Novem- 
ber 9th,  but  a  third  division  of  five  or  six  hundred  was  still  on 
the  way.  In  spite  of  repeated  warnings  from  returning  plains- 
men, they  had  left  the  Missouri  the  very  last  of  August ;  but 
all  heart  and  hope  was  gone  out  of  them  before  they  reached  the 
summit  of  the  Rocky  mountains,  and,  finding  a  little  sheltered 
valley  on  the  North  Platte,  they  sat  down  to  await  help  or  die. 
They  ate  all  their  provisions,  all  the  grease  provided  for  their 
carts,  all  their  cattle,  even  to  the  hides  and  hoofs,  and  were 
gnawing  away  upon  bark  and  roots  when  the  relief  party 
reached  them.  Of  this  company  one-fourth  died.  And  yet  this 
had  been  the  song  of  the  emigrants  on  starting: 

"  Hurrah  for  the  Camp  of  Israel ! 

Hurrah  for  the  hand-cart  scheme ! 
Hurrah !  hurrah !  'tis  better  far 
Than  the  wagon  and  ox-team. 


138  POLYGAMY. 

"  Oh,  our  faith  goes  with  the  hand-carts, 
And  they  have  our  hearts'  best  love ; 
Tis  a  novel  mode  of  travelling, 
Devised  by  the  Gods  above. 

Hurrah '  etc. 

"And  Brigham's  their  executive, 

He  told  us  the  design  ; 
And  the  Saints  are  proudly  marching  on, 
Along  the  hand-cart  line. 

Hurrah !  etc. 

"  Who  cares  to  go  with  the  wagons  ? 
Not  we  who  are  free  and  strong ; 
Our  faith  and  arms,  with  a  right  good  will. 
Shall  pull  our  carts  along. 

Hurrah!  etc." 

The  total  deaths  on  the  way  and  soon  after  arrival  are  esti- 
mated at  three  hundred,  besides  a  very  large  number  maimed 
in  various  degrees,  from  the  loss  of  an  eye,  toe  or  finger,  to  the 
loss  of  both  feet.  ^  was  long  familiar  with  the  sight  of  a  poor 
English  girl  hobbling  along  the  streets  of  Salt  Lake  on  two 
stumps,  both  feet  having  been  frozen  off  in  the  last  storm  before 
they  reached  the  city.  Many  a  time  I  have  sat  by  the  fire  in 
Salt  Lake  City,  and  felt  its  warmth  all  the  more  from  listening 
to  my  hostess  relate  her  sufferings  with  the  hand-carts.  She 
was  cured  of  Mormonism,  though  it  is  a  singular  fact  that  many 
of  the  worst  sufferers  are  still  the  most  fanatical.  "  My  hus^ 
band,"  she  said,  "died  in  the  last  storm.  He  pulled  the  cart  in 
the  morning  and  cheered  me  on ;  all  at  once  he  began  to  sink, 
and  called  to  the  Captain  : 

"'Oh,  Captain,  let  me  ride  in  the  wagon/ 

" '  No/  was  the  rough  answer,  '  you  can't/ 

"  'Oh,  Captain,  for  God's  sake,  just  a  little  way !' 

"  '  No,  no.     Hurry  up,  hurry  up/ 

"  My  husband  soon  sank  down  in  the  snow.  I  lifted  him 
up  and  tried  to  get  him  on  the  cart — I  felt  like  I  could  pull 
him.  He  said  the  tire  on  the  cart-wheel  was  too  cold  for  him 
to  touch  it — the  snow  was  warmer,  and  went  down  again.  In 
three  hours  he  was  dead.  The  Captain  came,  jerked  off  my 
husband's  heavy  shoes,  and  then  hurried  me  on.  Oh,  how 


140  POLYGAMY;    OR,    THE    MYSTERIES 

bitter  I  felt  when  I  thought  of  the  home  we  had  left  in  sweet 
Herefordshire.  Every  time  I  see  that  man  I  feel  the  cold  tire 
of  that  hand-cart  pressing  heavy  on  my  heart." 

The  second  stage  of  madness  had  begun  before  the  sufferers 
reached  the  city ;  their  arrival  only  increased  it.  The  origina- 
tor of  this  remarkable  movement  was  Jedediah  M.  Grant,  first 
councillor  to  Brigham  Young,  and  a  frothing  fanatic,  whom  it 
is  only  charity  to  judge  as  of  diseased  mind.  All  the  younger 
Mormons  say  he  was  the  first  they  ever  heard  preach  the  blood- 
atonement  doctrine ;  and,  if  not  its  author,  he  must  be  credited 
with  its  first  distinct  public  avowal,  though  Brigham  at  once 
endorsed  it.  If  there  were  any  doubt  whatever  on  this  subject, 
we  ought  at  once  to  reject  the  idea  that  a  religious  society  in 
America  adopted  the  doctrine  of  "  killing  men  to  save  their 
souls."  It  is  such  a  horrible  burlesque  on  all  we  know  as 
Christianity,  that  one  is  without  any  sure  guide  in  analyzing  it. 
But  it  was  distinctly  and  emphatically  taught  for  years;  it  is 
laid  down  in  Mormon  publications  just  as  specifically  as  any 
other  doctrine,  and  the  sermons  in  defense  of  it  are  published 
by  the  Mormons  themselves  in  their  Journal  of  Discourses. 
That  work  contains  at  least  forty  endorsements  of  blood-atone- 
ment, and  all  who  heard  the  sermons  say  they  were  much 
stronger  than  the  printed  report.  Here  is  part  of  Jedediah  M. 
Grant's  sermon  of  March  12th,  1854: 

"Then  what  ought  this  meek  people  who  keep  the  command- 
ments of  God  to  do  unto  them  ?  '  Why/  says  one,  '  they  ought 
to  pray  to  the  Lord  to  I- ill  them.'  I  want  to  know  if  you  would 
wish  the  LORD  to  come  down  and  do  all  your  dirty  work? 
Many  of  the  Latter-day  Saints  will  pray,  and  petition,  and 
supplicate  the  Lord  to  do  a  thousand  things  they  themselves 
would  be  ashamed  to  do. 

"  When  a  man  prays  for  a  thing,  he  ought  to  be  witting  to  per- 
form it  himself.  But  if  the  Latter-day  Saints  should  put  to 
death  the  covenant-breakers,  it  would  try  the  faith  of  the  very 
meek,  just,  and  pious  ones  among  them,  and  it  would  cause  a 
great  deal  of  whining  in  Israel. 

"  Then  there  was  another  odd   commandment.     The   Lord 


AND   CRIMES    OF    MORMONISM.  141 

•  i 

God  commanded  them  not  to  pity  the  person  whom  they  killed, 
but  to  execute  the  law  of  God  upon  persons  worthy  of  death. 
This  should  be  done  by  the  entire  congregation,  SHOWING  NO 
PITY.  I  have  thought  there  would  have  to  be  quite  a  revolu- 
tion among  the  Mormons  before  such  a  commandment  could  be 
obeyed  completely  by  them.  For  instance,  if  they  can  get  a 
man  before  the  tribunal  administering  the  law  of  the  land,  and 
succeed  in  getting  a  rope  around  his  neck,  and  having  him 
hung  up  like  a  dead  dog,  it  is  all  right.  But  if  the  Church  and 
Kingdom  of  God  should  step  forth  and  execute  the  law  of  God, 
O,  what  a  burst  of  Mormon  sympathy  it  would  cause !  I  wish 
we  were  in  a  situation  favorable  to  our  doing  that  which  is  justi- 
fiable before  God,  without  any  contaminating  influence  of  Gen- 
tile amalgamation,  laws,  and  traditions ;  that  the  People  of  God 
might  lay  the  ax  to  the  root  of  the  tree,  and  every  tree  that  bringeth 
not  forth  good  fruit  might  be  hewn  down. 

"  What !  do  you  believe  that  people  would  do  right  and  keep 
the  law  of  God  by  actually  putting  to  death  the  transgressors  f 
Putting  to  death  the  transgressors  would  exhibit  the  law  of  God, 
no  matter  BY  WHOM  it  was  done.  That  is  my  opinion." 

Brigham  endorsed  all  this  very  warmly,  and  added  : 

"  There  is  not  a  man  or  woman  who  violates  the  covenants 
made  with  their  God,  that  will  not  be  required  to  pay  the  debt. 
The  blood  of  Christ  will  never  wipe  that  out,  your  own  blood 
must  atone  for  it;  and  the  judgments  of  the  Almighty  will  come 
sooner  or  later,  and  every  man  and  woman  will  have  to  atone 
for  breaking  their  covenants." 

These  sermons  were  aimed  at  the  Gladdenites  and  other  dis- 
senting sects,  and  most  of  them  soon  fled  the  Territory ;  but  as 
to  the  number  actually  killed  pursuant  to  the  blood-atonement 
doctrine,  we  have  no  positive  proof.  By  1856  Grant  had 
reached  that  stage  of  fanatical  fury  in  which  he  declared  that 
the  time  was  at  hand  when  they  would  "  go  up  and  down  the 
street  with  the  old  broadsword  and  say,  'Are  you  for  Christ  ? ' 
and  whoever  is  not  will  be  cut  down."  With  this  spirit  he 
commenced  preaching  a  reformation,  and  soon  had  the  active 
spirits  as  wild  as  himself.  Elders  were  sent  to  the  various  set- 


142  POLYGAMY. 

tlernents  and  stationed  at  certain  places,  whose  duty  it  was  to 
excite  people  to  confess  their  secret  sins  and  reveal  their  private 
conduct  to  them  and  the  bishops.  Teachers  were  appointed  in 
every  ward  and  for  every  block,  whose  duties  were  to  pry  into 
every  secret  and  learn  the  private  history  of  every  family. 
Men,  women  and  children  were  asked  the  most  indelicate  questions 
about  private  actions  and  secret  thoughts.  Husbands  were  asked 
inconvenient  questions  about  relations  with  their  wives,  and 
wives  about  their  husbands,  by  rude  and  ignorant  teachers,  and 
counsel  was  given  accordingly.  Girls  were  counselled  to  marry 
into  polygamy  to  old  men,  "  that  they  might  be  saved,"  for 
young  men  were  not  tried  in  the  kingdom  and  could  not  save 
the  girls;  and  in  many  instances  young  women  were  forced  to 
break  off  engagements  with  young  men,  and  take  old  elders. 
Old  men  traded  daughters  as  shamelessly  as  they  traded  cattle, 
and  shocking  cases  of  brutality  in  such  marriages  are  related 
by  reliable  men  living  in  Utah  at  that  time.  One  woman  as- 
sured me  she  had  two  playmates  married  by  their  fathers  in  this 
wise :  "  I'll  give  you  my  Jule,  if  you'll  give  me  your  Nance.'7 
"Agreed,"  and  it  was  done,  neither  girl  over  thirteen  years  old! 
Every  Mormon  was  required  to  confess  his  most  secret  sins, 
and  these  confessions  were  written  down,  signed  by  the  party 
and  filed  away  for  future  use.  By  order  of  Brigham  Young,  a 
catechism  was  prepared  to  serve  in  the  secret  examinations,  so 
shockingly  indecent  in  character  that,  since  modern  ideas  pene- 
trated Utah,  every  copy  has  been  collected  and  destroyed.  The 
arrival  of  the  hand-cart  sufferers  only  added  to  the  prevailing 
madness.  " Surely,"  said  fanaticism,  "God  is  angry  with  his 
people,  or  his  promise  to  temper  the  winds  would  have  held 
good;"  and  in  an  amazingly  short  space  of  time  most  of  the  new- 
comers were  as  insane  as  the  rest — for  all  Utah  was  pervaded 
by  an  epidemic  madness.  Jedediah  Grant  and  Orson  Hyde 
ranged  the  Territory,  breathing  out  threats  against  dissenters, 
and  teaching  bloody  doctrines  in  figures  of  speech.  The  New 
Testament  was  laid  aside ;  Hebraic  precedents  only  were  cited : 
Phinehas,  who  killed  his  brother  and  the  Midianitish  woman ; 
Jael,  who  slew  the  heathen  ;  the  king  who  massacred  idolaters, 


(143) 


144  POLYGAMY;    OR,    THE    MYSTERIES 

and  the  priest  who  hewed  the  transgressor  in  pieces  before  the 
Lord.  Marrying  and  giving  in  marriage  went  on  constantly, 
as  fast  as  the  officials  could  put  the  Saints  through  the  Endow- 
ment House  ceremonies  proper  to  "  plural  marriage."  Every 
eligible  woman  in  the  Territory  was  appropriated,  and  girls  of 
twelve  and  fourteen  years  were  "  sealed  "  to  old  elders. 

Of  course  this  fierce  spirit  did  not  continue  long  till  blood 
was  shed.  Blood  is  what  the  student  of  religious  fanaticism  al- 
ways looks  to  hear  of  at  a  certain  stage:  "redeeming  blood/' 
"sanctifying  blood,"  "atoning  blood,"  or  "imputed  blood;" 
but  always  blood!  At  first  obnoxious  and  doubtful  men  were 
merely  ridiculed  and  denounced  in  the  meetings;  next  they 
were  grossly  maltreated,  and  then  actual  killing  began.  Those 
who  merely  lacked  in  zeal  or  failed  to  confess  themselves  guilty 
of  something,  were  ducked  in  the  Jordan,  rolled  naked  in  the 
snow  or  whipped,  while  their  houses  were  daubed  with  filth. 
Several  cases  of  emasculation  occurred,  one  particularly  barbar- 
ous case  at  San  Pete.  An  old  resident  gives  this  testimony  as 
to  the  action  of  the  bishops  and  the  general  feeling: 

"  I  was  at  a  Sunday  meeting  in  the  spring  of  1857,  in  Provo, 
when  the  news  of  the  San  Pete  castration  was  referred  to  by  the 
presiding  bishop — Blackburn.  Some  men  in  Provo  had  re- 
belled against  authority  in  some  trivial  matter,  and  Blackburn 
shouted  in  his  Sunday  meeting — a  mixed  congregation  of  all 
ages  and  both  sexes — '  I  want  the  people  of  Provo  to  under- 
stand that  the  boys  in  Provo  can  use  the  knife  as  well  as  the 
boys  in  San  Pete.  Boys,  get  your  knives  ready,  there  is  work 
for  you  !  We  mast  not  be  behind  San  Pete  in  good  works.' 
The  result  of  this  was  that  two  citizens,  named  Hooper  and 
Beauvere,  both  having  families  at  Provo,  left  the  following 
night  for  Fort  Bridger,  and  returned  only  after  Johnston's  army 
came  into  the  valley  the  following  year.  Their  only  offence 
was  rebellion  against  the  priesthood.  This  man,  Blackburn, 
was  continued  in  office  at  least  a  year  after  this,  and  was  after- 
wards taken  from  his  bishopric  and  sent  on  a  mission  to  Eng- 
land. The  qualifications  for  a  bishop  were  a  blind  submission 
and  obedience  to  Brigham  and  the  authorities,  and  a  firm, 


AND    CRIMES    OF    MORMONISM.  145 

unrelenting  government  of  his  subjects.  Strict  and  invariable 
obedience  to  their  file  leaders,  ( asking  no  questions  for  con- 
science sake/  makes  a  good  Saint.  To  pay  tithing  will  cover  a 
multitude  of  sins.7' 

Next  in  order  were  the  shocking  Parrish  murders  at  Spring- 
ville.  All  the  particulars  of  these  murders  have  since  been 
brought  out,  and  are  not  denied  by  anybody;  but  no  one  has 
been  punished,  and  Bishop  Johnson,  Mayor  McDonald  and 
others,  who  planned  the  murders,  lose  no  caste  on  account  of 
them.  The  elder  Parrish  was  an  inoffensive  man  whose  sole 
fault  was  unbelief  and  a  declared  intention  to  leave  the  Terri- 
tory. On  the  1st  of  March,  1857,  a  bishop's  council  was  held 
at  which  Parrish  was  condemned  to  death,  and  Abraham  Durfee 
and  Duff  Potter  detailed  to  kill  him.  Potter  and  Durfee  gained 
the  confidence  of  the  Parrishes,  father  and  two  sons,  and  induced 
them  to  go  out  with  them  by  night ;  concealed  Danites  then 
fired  upon  them,  and,  by  a  blunder  in  the  arrangements,  killed 
Potter  too !  Old  man  Parrish  struggled  desperately,  being  but 
slightly  wounded,  and  was  literally  hacked  to  death  with  a 
bowie-knife.  His  eldest  son  was  shot  dead,  and  his  youngest 
severely  wounded.  This  son  was  arrested  next  day  for  mur- 
dering his  father  and  brother,  and  the  farce  of  a  trial  gone 
through  with.  J.  M.  Stewart,  a  Mormon  official  of  Springville, 
afterwards  made  a  full  confession,  and  claimed  that  the  deed 
was  done  by  direct  orders  of  Brigham  Young. 

One  month  after  this,  Henry  Jones  and  his  mother,  at  Pay- 
son,  a  few  miles  from  Springville,  were  killed.  Henry  had 
previously  been  emasculated  on  a  charge  of  bestiality ;  now  he 
and  his  mother  were  accused  of  incest,  and  shockingly  mur- 
dered. Their  bodies  were  exposed  to  the  public  as  the  objects 
of  just  punishment,  then  laid  in  their  own  house,  a  dug-out  or 
half  under-ground  dwelling ;  the  roof  was  thrown  in,  and  the 
whole  covered  with  dirt,  making  that  their  only  grave.  These 
cases  are  only  the  most  notable  ones  of  that  dreadful  period ; 
almost  every  year  in  Utah  brings  out  evidence  relating  to 
some  hitherto  unsuspected  case.  The  perpetrators  are  getting 
old,  the  madness  of  fanaticism  has  passed,  and  confessions  are 
10 


146  POLYGAMY;    OR,   THE    MYSTERIES 

in  order.  Brigham  Young,  however,  endorsed  all  these  pro- 
ceedings at  the  time  in  vigorous  sermons.  Here  is  a  specimen 
extract : 

"All  mankind  love  themselves;  and  let  these  principles  be 
known  by  an  individual,  and  he  would  be  glad  to  hare  his  blood 
shed.  This  would  be  loving  ourselves  even  unto  an  eternal  exalta- 
tion. WiH  you  love  your  brothers  or  sisters  likewise  when  they 
have  a  sin  that  cannot  be  atoned  for  without  the  shedding  of  their 
blood  f  Will  you  love  that  man  or  woman  well  enough  to  shed 
their  blood?  THAT  is  WHAT  JESUS  CHRIST  MEANT.  He 
never  told  a  man  or  woman  to  love  their  enemies  in  their  wick- 
edness, never.  He  never  meant  any  such  thing ;  His  language 
is  left  as  it  is  for  those  to  read  who  have  the  spirit  to  discern 
between  truth  and  error ;  it  was  so  left  for  those  who  can  dis- 
cern the  things  of  God.  Jesus  Christ  never  meant  that  we 
should  love  a  wicked  man  in  his  wickedness. 

"I  could  refer  you  to  plenty  of  instances  where  men  have  been 
righteously  slain  in  order  to  atone  for  their  sins.  I  have  seen 
scores  and  hundreds  of  people  for  whom  there  would  have  been 
a  chance  (in  the  last  resurrection  there  will  be)  if  their  lives  had 
been  taken  and  their  blood  spilled  on  the  ground  as  a  smoking 
incense  to  the  Almighty,  but  who  are  now  angels  to  the  devil, 
until  our  elder  brother,  Jesus  Christ,  raises  them  up,  and  con- 
quers death,  hell,  and  the  grave. 

"  I  have  known  a  great  many  men  who  have  left  this  Church 
for  whom  there  is  no  chance  whatever  for  exaltation,  but  if  their 
blood  had  been  spilled  it  would  have  been  better  for  them. 

"The  wickedness  and  ignorance  of  the  nations  forbid  this  prin- 
ciple being  in  full  force,  but  THE  TIME  WILL  COME  WHEN  THE 
LAW  OF  GOD  WILL  BE  IN  FULL  FORCE.  This  is  loving  our 
neighbor  as  ourselves;  if  he  needs  help,  HELP  HIM  ;  if  he  wants 
salvation  and  it  is  necessary  to  spill  his  blood  on  the  earth  in 
order  that  he  may  be  saved,  SPILL  IT. 

"Any  of  you  who  understand  the  principles  of  eternity,  if 
you  have  sinned  a  sin  requiring  the  shedding  of  blood,  except 
the  sin  unto  death,  should  not  be  satisfied  or  rest  until  your 
blood  should  be  spilled,  that  you  might  gain  that  salvation  you 


AND   CRIMES   OP   MORMONISM.  147 

desire.  THAT  is  THE  WAY  TO  LOVE  MANKIND.  .  .  .  Light 
and  darkness  cannot  dwell  together,  and  so  it  is  with  the  king- 
dom of  God. 

"  Now  brethren  and  sisters,  will  you  live  your  religion  ? 
How  many  hundreds  of  times  have  I  asked  that  question? 
Will  the  Latter-day  Saints  live  their  religion?" 

Discourse  in  the  Tabernacle,  February  8,  1857,  published  in 
the  "Journal  of  Discourses,"  Vol.  IV.,  pp.  219,  220. 

Does  it  seem  too  horrible  for  belief  that  such  a  sermon  as  this 
should  be  preached  from  these  sweet  words  of  Jesus,  "  Love  thy 
neighbor  as  thyself."  Yet  they  were,  and  acted  upon,  too. 
The  saddest  case,  and  one  thoroughly  proved,  must  close  this 
black  record.  During  the  absence  of  a  missionary,  his  wife 
proved  unfaithful.  On  his  return  she  confessed  and  he  forgave 
her.  The  "  Reformation  "  soon  reached  its  most  fanatic  stage, 
and  both  husband  and  wife  decided  she  could  never  reach  an 
"exaltation"  unless  her  blood  was  shed.  She  consented  to  pay 
the  penalty  of  her  error,  and  while  her  heart  was  gushing  with 
affection  for  her  husband  and  her  children,  and  her  mind  ab- 
sorbed with  faith  in  the  doctrine  of  human  sacrifice,  she  seated 
herself  upon  her  husband's  knee,  and  after  a  warm  embrace, 
when  the  warmth  of  his  lips  still  lingered  about  her  glowing 
cheek,  with  his  own  right  hand  he  calmly  cut  her  throat,  and 
sent  her  spirit  to  the  keeping  of  the  gods.  That  husband  still 
lives  near  Salt  Lake  City,  and  preaches  with  great  unction. 
He  has  other  wives  and  a  fair  property,  is  a  good  average  citi- 
zen, and  to  all  outward  appearance  a  happy  man. 

The  madness  of  fanaticism  at  last  wore  itself  out.  Dazed 
and  bewildered,  men  slowly  emerged  from  the  bloody  mists  in 
which  they  had  been  walking,  and  a  faint  infection  of  common 
sense  spread  through  Utah.  The  Saints  without  exception  were 
re-baptized  for  the  remission  of  sins,  and  took  a  fresh  start  in 
spiritual  life.  Many  freely  admitted  they  were  ashamed  of 
much  that  had  been  done,  and  all  applied  themselves  earnestly 
to  the  work  of  1857.  The  harvest  was  singularly  abundant 
and  everything  promised  fair.  But  some  work  was  going  on  in 
the  States  and  at  Washington  which  the  Saints,  shut  out  from 


148 


POLYGAMY;    OR,   THE   MYSTERIES 


rapid  communication  with  the  world,  little  suspected.  In  their 
treatment  of  the  officials  they  had  been  swept  along  by  fanati- 
cism ;  when  the  fury  passed  they  soon  forgot  it,  and  naturally 
expected  everybody  else  to.  But  the  expelled  officials  and  their 
friends  had  labored  all  winter  at  Washington,  and  had  at  last 
set  that  ponderous  machine  called  government  in  motion. 


A  MORMON  WITH  HIS  WIVES  AND  CHILDREN. 


CRIMES  OF   MORMONISM.  149 


CHAPTER  IX. 

THE  MORMON  WAR  OF    1857. 

*Anniversary  Day"  in  Big  Cottonwood — A.  O.  Smoot's  startling  news — "1 
am  ready  for  the  devils" — Approach  of  the  United  States  army — Captain 
Van  Vliet's  mission — Brighani  forbids  the  United  States  to  trespass — "  Up, 
awake,  ye  defenders  of  Zion  " — "Du  dah,  du  dah,  day!" — Colonel  Kane 
saves  the  Mormons — Governor  dimming  —  Commissioners  Powell  and 
McCnllogh — Entrance  of  the  army — Flight  of  the  Saints — Their  misery 
and  poverty — End  of  the  War. 

JULY  24,  1857,  all  the  Saints  who  were  able  were  assembled 
at  Big  Cottonwood  Lake,  twenty-four  miles  from  Salt  Lake 
City,  and  10,000  feet  above  the  level  of  the  sea.  There  the 
Saints  who  were  well  supplied  with  vehicles  and  camp  equipage 
have  long  been  accustomed  to  celebrate  Pioneers'  Day :  anni- 
versary of  the  first  arrival  of  Brigham  and  party  in  the  valley. 
One  day  is  usually  consumed  in  going  up  and  fixing  the  ground, 
the  next  in  unrestrained  but  innocent  merriment,  and  a  third  in 
the  return.  It  is  the  great  day  to  which  Mormon  patriots  look 
forward,  and  in  their  eyes  is  bigger  than  Christmas,  New  Year's, 
and  the  Fourth  of  July  in  one.  The  day  had  nearly  passed 
and  dancing  was  lively  in  the  booths,  when  Elder  A.  O.  Smooi 
rode  into  the  assemblage,  just  from  the  East  and  almost  ex- 
hausted with  his  hurried  trip,  and  announced  to  the  Prophet 
that  President  Buchanan  had  sent  an  entirely  new  set  of  offi- 
cials for  Utah  and  an  army  with  them  :  the  force  even  now  on 
the  plains  and  marching  rapidly  towards  Utah.  Brigham's 
brow  grew  black  as  he  listened,  and  with  all  the  fury  of  his 
nature  he  broke  forth :  "  God  has  granted  my  wish  and  the 
devil  has  taken  me  at  my  word.  I  said  the  day  we  reached 
Utah  that  if  the  minions  of  hell  would  leave  me  ten  years,  I'd 
ask  no  odds  of  the  United  States  or  the  devil !  They've  taken 
me  at  my  word  and  shall  see  that  I  am  ready." 


150  POLYGAMY;   OR,   THE   MYSTERIES 

President  Buchanan  and  bis  cabinet  had  evidently  made  up 
their  minds  to  try  the  issue  with  Brigham.  Congress  not 
being  in  session,  Secretary  of  War  Floyd  exercised  his  general 
authority  over  the  regular  army,  by  virtue  of  which  he  could 
order  it  to  any  place  in  the  Territories.  Accordingly  a  force  of 
about  3,000  men  was  sent  from  Leavenworth  under  the  com- 
mand of  General  W.  S.  Harney.  At  the  same  time  new  men 
were  appointed  to  all  the  civil  offices,  as  follows:  Governor, 
Alexander  Gumming ;  Chief-Justice,  D.  R.  Eckles ;  Associate- 
Justices,  John  Cradlebaugh  and  Charles  E.  Sinclair,  and  Secre- 
tary, John  Hartnet.  The  march  of  the  column  was  delayed  for 
various  reasons,  and  it  was  late  in  September  before  the  army, 
accompanied  by  the  officials,  crossed  Green  river  and  entered 
the  Territory.  Meanwhile  Captain  Van  Vliet,  an  active  and 
discreet  officer,  had  been  sent  forward  to  purchase  provisions 
for  the  army  and  assure  the  people  of  Salt  Lake  of  the  peaceful 
intentions  of  the  Government.  On  his  arrival  there,  he  was 
amazed  to  find  them  preparing  for  war. 

Brigham  and  his  business  partners  had  organized  the  "  B.  Y. 
Express,"  to  run  from  the  Missouri  to  Salt  Lake,  and  one  of  the 
party  had  obtained  from  the  United  States  the  contract  of  car- 
rying the  mails  from  Leavenworth  out.  The  company  had 
built  stations  and  stocked  the  1,200  miles;  but  they  had  only 
carried  one  through  mail  when  war  came,  and  the  whole  invest- 
ment was  a  total  loss.  At  the  same  time  the  distant  settlements 
were  broken  up,  and  the  brethren  ordered  home.  From  San 
Bernardino  came  all  who  did  not  apostatize,  at  great  loss  and 
expense ;  Lemhi  and  Green  River  settlements  were  broken  up, 
and  the  Carson  Valley  Mormons  in  wild  flight  abandoned 
property  now  valued  at  something  near  a  million  dollars. 
Captain  Van  Vliet  saw  all  this  and  much  more.  He  says  in 
his  report : 

"  In  the  course  of  my  conversation  with  the  governor  and  the 
influential  men  in  the  Territory,  I  told  them  plainly  and 
frankly  what  I  conceived  would  be  the  result  of  their  present 
course.  I  told  them  that  they  might  prevent  the  small  military 
force  now  approaching  Utah  from  getting  through  the  narrow 


AND   CRIMES   OF   MORMONISM.  151 

defiles  and  rugged  passes  of  the  mountains  this  year,  but  that 
next  season  the  United  States  Government  would  send  troops 
sufficient  to  overcome  all  opposition.  The  answer  to  this  was 
invariably  the  same :  '  We  are  aware  that  such  will  be  the  case ; 
but  when  those  troops  arrive,  they  will  find  Utah  a  desert,  every 
house  will  be  burned  to  the  ground,  every  tree  cut  down,  and 
every  field  laid  waste.  We  have  three  years'  provisions  on 
hand,  which  we  will  cache,  and  then  take  to  the  mountains,  and 
bid  defiance  to  all  the  powers  of  the  Government.7 

*  I  attended  their  service  on  Sunday,  and  in  the  course  of  a 
sermon  delivered  by  elder  Taylor,  he  referred  to  the  approach 
of  the  troops,  and  declared  they  should  not  enter  the  Territory. 
He  then  referred  to  the  probability  of  an  overpowering  force 
being  sent  against  them,  and  desired  all  present,  who  would  ap- 
ply the  torch  to  their  own  buildings,  cut  down  their  trees,  and 
lay  waste  their  fields,  to  hold  up  their  hands ;  every  hand  in  an 
audience  numbering  over  four  thousand  persons  was  raised 
at  the  same  moment." 

Fifteen  years  afterward  John  D.  Lee  gave  me  substantially 
the  same  account  of  Mormon  actions  and  intentions  at  that  time, 
adding  that  they  had  dried  immense  quantities  of  wheat 
and  cached  it  in  the  mountains,  and  could  keep  up  a  guerilla 
war  for  years.  It  was  the  old  issue  in  a  new  shape :  Theocracy 
vs.  Democracy.  In  spite  of  bloody  experiences,  unfulfilled 
prophecies  and  the  "  Lord's  "  broken  promises,  they  were  again 
ready  for  a  fight.  And  at  the  very  time  Captain  Van  Yliet 
was  hearing  these  protests  from  the  Mormons,  with  oaths  and 
asseverations  of  their  innocence  of  all  charges,  John  D.  Lee  and 
his  allies  were  at  their  hellish  work  at  Mountain  Meadows. 
Late  in  November  the  captain  reached  Washington  City,  and 
on  his  report  the  Government  adopted  still  more  vigorous 
measures. 

The  force  with  the  coming  officials  consisted  of  the  Fifth  and 
Tenth  Regiments  of  Infantry,  the  old  Second  Dragoons,  cav- 
alry, and  two  batteries,  Reno's  and  Phe'lps'.  But  with  it  was  a 
vast  and  disorderly  mass  of  camp-followers,  besides  the  wives  of 
officers  and  their  servants ;  so  the  lowest  estimate  of  the  multi- 


152  POLYGAMY;     OK,    THE    MYSTERIES 

tude  puts  it  at  10,000.  General  Harney  having  to  go  to  Kan- 
sas, General  Persifer  F.  Smith  was  designed  for  the  command ; 
but  he  died  before  reaching  the  force,  and  the  command 
devolved  by  seniority  on  Colonel  Alexander  of  the  Tenth 
Infantry.  So  it  reached  the  borders  of  Utah  without  instruc- 
tions, and  continued  without  a  responsible  and  specially  com- 
missioned head  till  General  Albert  Sidney  Johnston  arrived 
and  took  command.  Having  passed  Green  river,  then  the 
boundary  of  Utah,  the  commander  received  a  copy  of  this 
document : 

"  GOVERNOR'S  OFFICE,  UTAH  TERRITORY,  ) 
GREAT  SALT  LAKE  CITY,  September  29,  1857.  j 

"  SIR  :  By  reference  to  the  Act  of  Congress,  passed  Septem- 
ber 9,  1850,  organizing  the  Territory  of  Utah,  published  in  a 
copy  of  the  Laws  of  Utah,  herewith,  p.  146,  Chap.  7,  you  will 
find  the  following: 

" '  SEC.  2.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  the  executive  power 
in  and  over  said  Territory  of  Utah  shall  be  vested  in  a 
Governor,  who  shall  hold  his  office  for  four  years,  and  until  his 
successor  shall  be  appointed  and  qualified,  unless  sooner  removed 
by  the  President  of  the  United  States.  The  Governor  shall 
reside  within  said  Territory,  shall  be  Commander-in-Chief  of 
the  militia  thereof/  etc.,  etc. 

"I  am  still  the  Governor  and  Superintendent  of  Indian 
Affairs  for  this  Territory,  no  successor  having  been  appointed 
and  qualified,  as  provided  by  law,  nor  have  I  been  removed  by 
the  President  of  the  United  States. 

"  By  virtue  of  the  authority  thus  vested  in  me,  I  have  issued 
and  forwarded  you  a  copy  of  my  proclamation,  forbidding  the 
entrance  of  armed  forces  into  this  Territory.  This  you  have 
disregarded.  I  now  further  direct  that  you  retire  forthwith 
from  the  Territory  by  the  same  route  you  entered.  Should  you 
deem  this  impracticable,  and  prefer  to  remain  until  spring  in 
the  vicinity  of  your  present  encampment,  Black's  Fork,  or 
Green  River,  you  can  do  so  in  peace,  and  unmolested,  on  condi- 
tion that  you  deposit  your  arms  and  ammunition  with  Lewis 


AND   CRIMES   OF   MORMONISM.  153 

Robinson,  Quartermaster-General  of  the  Territory,  and  leave  in 
the  spring,  as  soon  as  the  condition  of  the  roads  will  permit  you 
to  march.  And  should  you  fall  short  of  provisions,  they  can  be 
furnished  you  by  making  the  proper  applications  therefor. 

"General  D.  H.  Wells  will  forward  this,  and  receive  any 
communications  you  may  have  to  make. 

"Very  respectfully, 

"BRIGHAM  YOUNG, 
"Governor  and  Superintendent  of  Indian  Affairs, 

Utah  Territory. 

"To  the  Officer  commanding  the  Forces  now  invading  Utah 
Territory." 

An  order  from  a  territorial  Governor  forbidding  the  United 
States  to  trespass  on  his  ground,  would  be  a  rich  joke  in  these 
days  of  Federal  might  and  increased  National  jurisdiction.  On 
the  15th  of  September  Brigham  had  issued  a  proclamation 
putting  the  Territory  under  martial  law;  all  the  militia  and 
able-bodied  men  were  ordered  "to  hold  themselves  in  readi- 
ness to  march  at  a  moment's  notice  to  repel  invasion,"  and 
Lieuten ant-General  Daniel  H.  Wells  was  ordered  with  two 
thousand  men  to  "occupy  the  passes  of  the  Wasatch  mountains, 
to  defend  their  hearths  and  homes  against  the  violence  of  the 
army."  Echo  can"  on  was  fortified,  and  orders  issued  to  harass 
the  Federal  army  in  every  way,  by  driving  off  stock,  burning 
wagons  and  blocking  up  the  roads,  but  to  take  no  lives  till 
further  ordered. 

He  also  proclaimed  that  "if  any  proved  traitor,  or  attempted 
to  shield  his  own  when  the  day  came  to  burn  and  lay  waste,  he 
should  be  sheared  down;  for  judgment  should  belaid  to  the 
line  and  righteousness  to  the  plummet."  The  effect  of  such 
teaching  upon  a  fanatical  people  may  well  be  imagined.  A 
perfect  reign  of  terror  ensued.  Of  those  devoted  to  Brigham, 
every  one  was  a  spy  upon  his  neighbors,  while  the  disaffected 
trembled  at  the  storm,  and  made  efforts  to  escape.  Among 
other  victims  a  party  of  six  from  California,  under  command 
or'  a  Mr.  Aitkin,  were  attacked  south  of  Salt  Lake,  and  four 
of  them  instantly  killed.  The  other  two  were  promised  they 


1 54  POLYGAMY. 

should  be  sent  out  of  the  Territory  by  the  southern  route,  and, 
in  pursuance  of  that  promise,  started  south  under  guard.  They 
were  never  again  heard  of,  and  by  the  testimony  of  an  apostate 
woman,  Alice  Lamb,  they  were  killed  and  their  bodies  thrown 
into  a  large  spring  near  the  road.  She  adds  that  one  was  only 
stunned  by  the  first  shot,  when  Porter  Rockwell  stepped  up, 
placed  a  pistol  to  his  ear,  and,  adding,  "This  never  misses," 
literally  blew  out  his  brains.  Such  was  the  first  account;  but 
in  after  years  a  more  exact  history  of  this  massacre  was  devel- 
oped in  court,  and  will  be  related  under  the  proper  heading. 
The  Mormons  aver  that  this  was  a  party  of  gamblers,  that 
they  carried  with  them  "powders  to  drug  Mormon  women, 
and  that  they  deserved  death  anyhow;"  and  in  all  such  cases 
they  have  established  the  principle  of  assassination.  In  this 
time  of  excitement,  suspicion  was  proof.  About  the  same  time 
Brigham  Young,  preaching  in  the  tabernacle,  stated  that 
hitherto  as  Governor  and  Indian  Agent  he  "had  protected 
emigrants  passing  through  the  Territory,  but  now  he  would 
turn  the  Indians  loose  upon  them."  This  hint  was  as  good  as 
a  letter  of  marque  to  the  land  pirates  of  southern  Utah. 

We  can  only  guess  at  what  was  said  in  that  terrible  time 
by  the  character  of  what  the  Mormons  themselves  have 
thought  fit  to  publish — presumably  the  mildest  part  of  it. 
And  .of  that  mildest  here  are  some  specimens.  Brighara 
said :  "  They  say  that  their  army  is  legal ;  and  I  say  that 
such  a  statement  is  as  false  as  hell,  and  that  they  are  as 
rotten  as  an  old  pumpkin  that  has  been  frozen  seven  times, 
and  then  melted  in  a  harvest  sun.  Come  on  with  your  thou- 
sands of  illegally-ordered  troops,  and  I  will  promise  you,  in 
the  name  of  Israel's  God,  that  you  shall  melt  away  as  the  snow 
before  a  July  sun.  .  .  . 

"  You  might  as  well  tell  me  that  you  can  make  hell  into  a 
powder-house,  as  to  tell  me  that  you  could  let  an  army  in  here, 
and  have  peace;  and  I  intend  to  tell  them  and  show  them  this, 
if  they  do  not  stay  away.  .  .  .  And  I  say  our  enemies  shall 
not  slip  'the  bow  on  old  BrigLt's  neck'  again.  God  bless  you. 
Amen" 


SCENE  IN  ECHO  CANON 


(156) 


156  POLYGAMY. 

And  Heber  C.  Kimball  followed  with  this: 

"Is  there  a  collision  between  us  and  the  United  States?  No; 
we  have  not  collashed;  that  is  the  word  that  sounds  nearest  to 
what  I  mean.  But  now  the  thread  is  cut  between  them  and 
us,  and  we  will  never  gybe  again — no,  never,  worlds  without 
end.  [Voices,  'Amen/]  .... 

"  Do  as  you  are  told,  and  Brigham  Young  will  never  leave 
the  governorship  of  this  Territory,  from  this  time  henceforth 
and  forever.  No,  never.  And  there  shall  no  wicked  judge 
with  his  whore  ever  sit  in  our  courts  again;  for  all  who  are 
against  Israel  are  an  abomination  to  me  and  to  our  God.  The 
spirit  that  is  upon  me  this  morning  is  the  spirit  of  the  Lord, 
that  is,  the  Holy  Ghost — though  some  of  you  may  think  the 
Holy  Ghost  is  never  cheerful.  Well,  let  me  tell  you,  the  Holy 
Ghost  is  a  man ;  he  is  one  of  the  sons  of  our  Father  and  our 
(rod,  and  he  is  that  man  that  stood  next  to  Jesus  Christ— just 
as  I  stand  by  Brother  Brigham.  .  .  .  You  think  our  Father 
and  our  God  is  not  a  lively,  sociable  and  cheerful  man  ;  he  is 
one  of  the  most  lively  men  that  ever  lived.  .  .  .  Brother 
Brigham  is  my  leader,  he  is  my  Prophet  and  my  Seer,  my 
Revelator;  and  whatever  he  *ays,  that  is  for  me  to  do,  and  it 
is  not  for  me  to  question  him  one  word,  nor  to  question  God  a 
minute." 

The  Mormon  militia  were  meanwhile  pouring  into  the 
mountain  passes  and  fortifying  them.  In  Echo  Cafion  they 
captured  an  old  Indian  trade*  named  Yates,  whom  they  ac- 
cused of  being  a  spy.  He  asked  to  have  a  regular  trial  at  Salt 
Lake  City,  and  was  started  thither  under  guard.  That  night 
as  he  lay  asleep  by  the  camp-fire  his  brains  were  knocked  out 
with  an  ax  by  Bill  Hickraan;  he  was  buried  on  the  spot,  and  a 
fire  made  over  his  grave  to  conceal  the  crime.  In  his  confession 
of  this  dastardly  deed,  Hickman  says  he  did  it  by  direct  com- 
mand of  Hosea  Stout,  then  a  Mormon  leader,  and  that  Brigham 
Young's  son  Joseph  brought  the  order  direct  from  his  father. 
This  must  go  for  what  it  is  worth,  but  of  the  murder  there  is 
no  doubt. 

Meanwhile  the  United  States  troops,  handled  with  little  or 


(157) 


158  POLYGAMY;   OR,   THE   MYSTERIES 

no  skill,  sustained  irreparable  losses  of  train  and  stock.  The 
official  report  says  : 

"  Forts  Bridger  and  Supply  were  vacated  and  burned  down. 
Orders  were  issued  by  Daniel  H.  Wells  (Lieutenant-General 
Nauvoo  Legion)  to  stampede  the  animals  of  the  United  States 
troops  on  their  march,  to  set  fire  to  their  trains,  to  burn  the 
grass  and  the  whole  country  before  them  and  on  their  flanks,  to 
keep  them  from  sleeping  by  night  surprises,  and  to  block  the 
roads  by  felling  trees,  and  destroying  the  fords  of  rivers.  On 
the  4tli  of  October,  1857,  the  Mormons,  under  Captain  Lot 
Smith,  captured  and  burned  on  Green  river,  three  of  our  supply 
trains,  consisting  of  seventy-five  wagons  loaded  with  provisions 
and  tents  for  the  army,  and  carried  away  several  hundred 
animals." 

The  captured  teamsters  to  the  number  of  eighty  were  released 
and  directed  eastward  with  a  small  supply  of  provisions.  Only 
one  dozen  lived  to  reach  the  frontiers ;  hunger,  cold  and 
Indians  slew  the  rest.  On  the  10th  of  October  the  officers 
determined  to  attempt  a  circuitous  route  by  way  of  Soda  Springs, 
but  the  storms  of  winter  overtook  them ;  the  army  halted  at 
Fort  Bridger,  and  wintered  at  a  place  which  was  called  Camp 
Scott.  November  21st,  the  newly-appointed  Governor,  Cum- 
miug,  issued  a  proclamation,  which  might  be  summed  up  in  a 
little  advice  to  the  Mormons  to  go  home  and  obey  the  laws, 
and  they  would  not  be  molested  ;  and  most  of  them  had  done 
so  of  their  own  motion,  leaving  but  a  few  hundreds  to  guard 
the  passes.  The  sufferings  of  the  army  were  horrible.  Five 
hundred  animals  died  of  cold  in  one  night.  The  men  had  to 
draw  their  own  wood  through  deep  snow  from  the  adjacent 
hills.  One  camp,  on  Black's  Fork,  was  impressively  named 
"  The  Camp  of  Death." 

All  this  time  the  Mormons  were  the  happiest  people  in  the 
world.  They  had  whipped  the  United  States,  according  to 
prophecy,  at  last ;  and  entertained  no  sort  of  doubt  that  they 
would  finish  the  job  in  fine  style  in  the  spring.  Every  poetic  pen 
in  Utah  was  set  running,  and  every  assembly-room  resounded 
to  such  strains  as  this : 


AND   CRIMES   OF   MORMONISM.  159 

"  Up,  awake,  ye  defenders  of  Zion  ! 

The  foe's  at  the  door  of  your  homes ; 
Let  each  heart  be  the  heart  of  a  lion, 

Unyielding  and  proud  as  he  roams. 
Remember  the  wrongs  of  Missouri, 

Remember  the  fate  of  Nauvoo : 
When  the  God-hating  foe  is  before  ye, 

Stand  firm,  and  be  faithful  and  true. 

"  By  the  mountains  our  Zion's  surrounded, 

Her  warriors  are  noble  and  brave ; 
And  their  faith  on  Jehovah  is  founded, 

Whose  power  is  mighty  to  save. 
Opposed  by  a  proud,  boasting  nation, 

Their  numbers,  compared,  may  be  few ; 
But  their  union  is  known  through  creation, 

And  they've  always  been  faithful  and  true." 

No  people  in  an  equal  space  of  time  ever  produced  so  much 
bad  poetry  as  the  Mormons;  but  a  few  of  their  best  songs  have 
a  ring  in  them  that  then  made  them  popular,  especially  if  they 
breathed  sarcasm  and  defiance  of  all  the  Gentile  world.  While 
the  elders  prayed  and  prophesied,  the  boys  in  the  camp  sang  : 

"  Old  Sam  has  sent,  I  understand, 

Dudah! 
A  Missouri  *  ass  to  rule  car  land  j 

Du  dah  I  Du  dah  day  ! 
But  if  he  comes,  we'll  have  some  fun, 

Du  dah ! 
To  see  him  and  his  juries  run, 

Du  dah !  Du  dah  day ! 

CHORUS  :  Then  let  us  be  on  hand 

By  Brigham  Young  to  stand  ; 
And  if  our  enemies  do  appear, 
We'll  sweep  them  from  the  land. 

"  Old  squaw-killer  Harney  is  on  the  way, 

Dudahl 

The  Mormon  people  for  to  slay, 
Du  dah !  Du  dah  day  ! 

*  Governor  Gumming. 


160  POLYGAMY;   OR,    THE    MYSTERIES 

Now  if  he  comes,  the  truth  I'll  tell, 

Du  dah ! 
Our  boys  will  drive  him  down  to  hell ! 

Da  dah !  Du  dah  day ! 

"  There's  seven  hundred  wagons  on  the  way, 

Du  dah  ! 
And  their  cattle  are  numerous,  so  they  say, 

Du  dah  !  Du  dah  day ! 
Now,  to  let  them  perish  would  be  a  sin, 

Dudah! 
So  we'll  take  all  they've  got  for  bringing  them  m, 

Du  dah !  Du  dah  day  ! " 

According  to  the  testimony  of  all  my  personal  friend*  who 
were  then  Mormons,  there  was  an  absolute  unanimity  of 
sentiment  among  the  faithful,  that  the  last  days  of  the  American 
Republic  were  at  hand ;  and  even  the  skeptical  were  impressed 
by  the  general  feeling.  Once  or  twice  during  the  winter  letters 
got  through  to  the  States,  and  among  them  the  following  from  a 
Mormon  woman  to  her  Gentile  daughter,  which  was  published 
in  the  Providence  (R.  I.)  Journal,  and  will  show  the  orthodox 
sentiment : 

"  I  expect  you  have  heard  the  loud  talk  of  Uncle  Sam's 
great  big  army  coming  to  kill  the  Saints.  Now,  if  you  did 
but  know  how  the  Saints  rejoice  at  the  folly  of  the  poor  Gen- 
tiles. There  are  about  four  thousand  on  the  border  of  our 
Territory,  and  six  hundred  wagons — one  naked  mule  to  draw 
them — all  the  rest  having  died.  The  men  are  sitting  in  the 
snow,  about  a  hundred  and  fifteen  miles  from  us,  living  on 
three  crackers  a  day,  and  three-quarters  of  a  pound  of  beef  a 
week.  Thus  you  see  the  old  Prophet's  words  are  fulfilled — 
whosoever  shall  fight  against  Zion  shall  perish.  The  time  is 
very  near  when  one  man  shall  chase  a  thousand,  and  two  shall 
put  ten  thousand  to  flight !  Zion  is  free ;  she  is  hid  in  one  of 
the  chambers  of  the  Lord.  We  are  a  free  people.  We  do  not 
fear  '  Uncle  Sam's '  soldiers.  We  only  fear  our  Father  in  heaven. 
We  are  learning  his  commandments  every  day  from  his  Prophet, 
and  I  am  determined  to  keep  them.  If  you  were  here,  and 


AND   CRIMES   OF    MORMONISM  161 

could  hear  the  Prophet's  voice  as  I  do,  and  could  hear  the  lion 
of  the  Lord  roar  from  the  mountains,  as  I  do,  and  know  how 
near  the  scourge  of  the  Lord  is  upon  the  Gentiles,  you  would 
flee  to  the  mountains  with  haste.  The  time  has  come  when  the 
Lord  has  called  all  the  elders  home,  and  commanded  them  to 
bind  up  the  law  and  seal  the  testimony.  They  are  now  coming 
home  as  fast  as  possible.  What  comes  next  ?  The  judgment, 
hail-storm,  thunder,  lightning,  pestilence,  war ;  and  they  that 
will  not  take  up  the  sword  against  their  neighbor  must  flee  to 
Zion  for  safety.  Will  you  come,  oh  !  my  dear  children?" 

Of  course  this  sort  of  thing  could  not  last  long.  With  all 
their  folly  there  were  a  few  Mormons  who  knew  that  when 
spring  dissolved  the  snowy  barriers  of  the  mountain  passes,  the 
army  must  come  in.  Unfortunately,  as  this  writer  thinks, 
events  in  the  East  were  working  to  save  them  from  the  con- 
sequences of  their  folly,  and  let  them  out  of  their  dilemma 
with  all  the  show  of  triumph.  Dr.  Bernhisel,  their  delegate 
in  Congress,  had  worked  in  a  quiet  way  at  Washington, 
securing  a  few  friends;  and  in  the  first  week  of  January,  1858, 
Colonel  Thomas  L.  Kane,  the  oft-appearing  marplot,  registered 
as  "Dr.  Osborne,"  sailed  out  of  New  York  harbor  for  San  Fran- 
cisco, with  the  permission  and  tacit  encouragement  of  President 
BUchanan,  to  arrange  a  peace.  The  conduct  of  the  opposition, 
the  young  Republican  party,  had  embarrassed  the  President, 
and  at  this  distance  of  time  seems  almost  without  excuse. 
They  were  so  anxious  to  prove  that  the  President  and  Democracy 
were  violating  the  doctrine  of  territorial  home  government  they 
ardently  professed,  that  they  (the  Republican  politicians)  did 
much  in  criticism  and  very  little  in  help.  It  was  a  time  of 
unsettlement ;  there  was  no  well-defined  rule  as  to  the  govern- 
ment of  the  territories,  and  the  Democrats  could  not  defend 
their  "  squatter  sovereignty  "  in  Kansas  without  seeming  to  con- 
demn interference  with  Utah.  But  the  mass  of  the  people  sus- 
tained the  President,  and  preparations  for  a  more  vigorous 
campaign  in  1858  were  made  with  the  most  lavish  expense. 

"  Dr.  Osborne "  reached  Southern  California  in  time  to  go 
to  Salt  Lake  with  the  last  party  of  retreating  Mormons ;  and 
11 


162 


POLYGAMY  ;    OR,    THE    MYSTERIES 


soon  convinced  Brigham  Young  that  nothing  but  skillful  diplo- 
macy would  save  him  and  his  people  from  utter  ruin.  Properly 
assured  by  Brigham  he  threw  off  his  alias  and  hastened  to 
Camp  Scott,  where  he  soon  convinced  Governor  Gumming  that 
the  Mormons  were  rather  more  peaceable  than  average  lambs, 
if  only  let  alone.  But  as  he  neglected  to  report  his  presence 
and  business  to  General  Johnston,  that  officer  was  proceeding  to 
put  him  under  arrest  as  a  spy,  when  Governor  Gumming  inter- 
posed and  claimed  the  right  to  protect  his  guest.  This  led  to 
a  quarrel,  and  very  nearly  to  a  duel;  there  was  thereafter  no 

concert  of  action  between  gov- 
ernor and  general,  and  Colonel 
Kane's  object  was  practically  ac- 
complished. Governor  Gumming 
accompanied  him  on  his  return, 
and  was  permitted  to  pass  through 
the  Mormon  forces  to  Salt  Lake 
City.  He  was  much  flattered  with 
hi.s  reception,  particularly  by  an 
illumination  in  his  honor  of  Echo 
Canon,  which  they  passed  in  the 
night.  They  were  escorted  by 
Kimball  and  Rockwell,  and 
reached  the  city  early  in  the 
spring ;  the  Mormons  hastened  to 
assure  him  that  "  the  rebellion  in 

PULPIT  ROCK,   ECHO  CA*ON.         Utah   wag    ft    pure    invention^    aml 

the  records  which  were  supposed  to  have  been  destroyed,  were 
produced  entire !  They  had  only  been  concealed. 

Such  flattery  and  attention  were  bestowed  upon  the  governor 
that  he  was  completely  captivated,  and  such  earnest  representa- 
tions made  that  he  was  soon  convinced  that  the  Mormons  were 
an  innocent  and  much  abused  people,  and  was  anxious  to  spare 
them  all  humiliation  possible.  But  he  could  not  control  the 
army,  which  had  orders  from  the  Secretary  of  War.  He  re- 
ported a  respectful  reception  to  Washington,  and  on  the  12th 
of  April  Mr.  Buchanan  appointed  L.  W.  Powell,  of  Kentucky, 


AND   CRIMES    OF    MORMONISM.  1  Go 

and  Ben  McCulloch,  of  Texas,  as  Peace  Commissioners,  and  by 
them  sent  a  proclamation  of  pardon  I  But  Brigham  Young 
had  given  orders  for  a  move,  and  early  in  April,  25,000  people 
from  the  city  and  north  of  it  started  south,  they  knew  not 
where,  but  many  supposed  it  was  to  Mexico.  Governor  Gum- 
ming in  vain  implored  them  to  remain.  Old  Mormons  have 
often  told  me  how  he  stood  upon  the  street  as  the  long  trains 
rolled  southward,  with  the  tears  streaming  from  his  eyes,  and 
protested,  "  if  he  followed  his  feelings  he  would  rather  go  with 
them  than  remain  with  the  apostates."  Late  that  month  he 
issued  a  proclamation  offering  "  protection  to  all  illegally  re- 
strained of  their  liberty  in  Utah,"  but  few  availed  themselves 
of  it.  The  latter  part  of  May,  the  Peace  Commissioners  ar- 
rived, and  had  an  interview  with  the  leading  Mormons.  The 
latter  stipulated  that  the  army  should  not  be  stationed  within 
forty  miles  of  the  city ;  that  they  should  protect  private  prop- 
erty ;  should  march  through  the  city  without  halting,  and  must 
not  encamp  till  they  passed  the  Jordan.  They  promised  on 
their  part  everything  that  was  asked,  and  accepted  the  Presi- 
dent's pardon. 

June  26th  the  Federal  army  marched  into  and  through  the 
almost  deserted  city.  Nine-tenths  of  the  houses  were  vacated, 
and  arranged  with  shavings  and  straw  so  that  a  general  confla- 
gration could  easily  have  been  started.  But  the  troops  molested 
no  one,  and  marched  across  the  Jordan  to  their  resting  place, 
whence  they  proceeded  to  Camp  Floyd,  forty  miles  south  of  the 
city,  and  established  a  permanent  post.  The  Mormons  mean- 
while continued  their  mad  flight  in  great  poverty  and  destitu- 
tion. The  Sunday  after  Colonel  Kane's  interview  with  him, 
Brigham  had  convened  the  people  in  a  mass-meeting,  and 
announced  that  the  "  mind  of  the  Lord  "  now  was  for  flight — 
where  he  did  not  indicate,  but  gave  these  general  hints : 

"  Where  are  you  going  ?  To  the  deserts  and  the  mountains. 
There  is  a  desert  region  in  this  Territory  larger  than  any  of  the 
Eastern  States,  that  no  white  man  knows  anything  about.  Can 
you  realize  that?  What  is  the  reason  you  do  not  know  any- 
thing about  that  region  ?  It  is  a  desert  country  with  long  dis- 


164  x>OLYQAMY;    OR,   THE    MYSTERIES 

tances  from  water  to  water,  with  wide  sandy  and  alkali  places 
entirely  destitute  of  vegetation,  and  miry  when  wet,  and  small, 
scattering  patches  of  greasewood,  and  it  is  a  region  that  the 
whites  have  not  explored,  and  where  there  are  but  few  Indians. 
There  are  places  here  and  there  in  it  where  a  few  families 
could  live.  Four  years  ago  this  spring  we  sent  Bishop  David 
Evans  and  a  company  to  go  to  that  desert,  for  we  then  had  too 
long  neglected  to  explore  it.  We  wanted  to  plant  settlements 
there  in  preparation  for  this  day,  for  we  have  had  foreshadow- 
ings  and  a  promise  of  the  scenery  now  before  us.  That  com- 
pany did  not  accomplish  the  object  of  their  mission ;  they  were 
absent  a  few  weeks,  and  went  to  the  first  mountain,  but  they  did 
not  go  to  the  mountain  where  they  were  sent,  and  made  no  settle- 
ment. Now  we  are  going  to  try  it  again.  Probably  there  is 
room  in  that  region  for  500,000  persons  to  live  scattered  about 
where  there  is  good  grass  and  water.  I  am  going  there,  where 
we  should  have  gone  six  or  seven  years  ago.  Now  ice  are  going 
to  see  whether  the  sheep  mil  follow  the  shepherd.  I  do  not  care 
whether  they  follow  me  or  not" 

At  Provo,  July  5,  Brigham  issued  a  general  order  of  recall ; 
all  who  were  able  returned,  the  poorest  remained  where  the 
order  overtook  them,  living  upon  roots,  game,  and  such  scant 
provision  as  they  could  buy  from  brethren  in  the  locality ;  and 
so  ended  the  Mormon  War.  One  year  before  they  had  hurled 
defiance  at  the  government  and  declared  their  independence ; 
now  the  new  officials  were  installed,  the  army  in  the  centre  of 
Zion,  and  the  Saints  so  utterly  poverty-stricken  that  children 
went  naked,  men  dressed  in  the  skins  of  sheep  or  other  ani- 
mals, and  hundreds  of  grown  women  had  not  rags  enough  to 
secure  decency.  To  make  matters  worse  a  few  who  had  much 
to  spare  had  driven  hard  bargains,  stripping  others  of  what 
little  coin  they  held ;  and  there  are  leading  citizens  in  Utah  to- 
day who  laid  the  foundations  of  their  fortunes  by  then  making 
merchandise  of  the  poorer  Saints'  necessities.  Another  year 
passed :  the  crops  were  abundant,  the  Saints  waxed  fat,  and  all 
ranks  hurrahed,  sang  songs  of  triumph,  and  glorified  over  the 
great  victory  gained  against  the  minions  of  Babylon  and  King 


AND   CRIMES   OF   MORMONISM. 


165 


Buchanan.     And  in  just  that  wording  it  stands  recorded  in 
Utah  histories  to-day. 

In  the  events  of  the  Mormon  War  the  patriotic  mind  cannot 
find  one  point  of  satisfaction.  It  was  thoroughly  bad,  and  the 
effect  was  only  to  stimulate  Mormon  fanaticism  :  a  remark  ap- 
plicable to  all  the  government  has  done  in  that  Territory.  All 
political  parties  have  been  equally  at  fault,  and  nearly  all  ad- 
ministrations :  some  have  done  nothing,  others  just  enough  to 
irritate  and  not  enough  to  govern.  The  officials  in  Utah  have 
repeatedly  done  their  best,  but  at  the  critical  moment  the  gov- 
ernment has  always  deserted  them.  The  new  Judges  in  1858—9 
were  now  destined  to  the  worst  part  of  this  experience.  In  the 
division  of  the  Territory  Chief-Justice  Eckels  took  the  middle 
or  Provo  district,  Judge  Sinclair  the  northern  district,  while  to 
Judge  Cradlebaugh  was  assigned  the  most  southern  district. 
He  entered  at  once  on  a  rigid  inquiry  into  the  many  crimes 
committed  there,  especially  the  one  great  crime  which  has  made 
Utah  a  name  of  infamy.  As  the  history  is  necessarily  a  con- 
nected one,  we  shall  leave  the  regular  order  for  a  while  and 
trace,  from  the  first  dawning  of  the  plot  to  the  execution  of  the 
one  and  only  object  of  justice,  the  curious  and  horrible  history 
of  the  MOUNTAIN  MEADOWS  MASSACRE. 


CAPTFKE   OF  JOHN   D.    LEK. 


166  POLYGAMY;   OB,   THE   MY8TEK1ES 


CHAPTER  X. 

THE   MORMON    MURDERERS. 

Causes  of  the  Mountain  Meadows  massacre — Death  of  Apostle  Pratt — Ven 
geance  Bworn  against  Arkansas — The  wealthy  emigrants — Their  destruction 
decreed — "  Let  the  Almighty's  arrows  drink  the  blood  of  the  accursed  Gen- 
tiles " — John  D.  Lee's  council — The  emigrants  treacherously  captured — The 
awful  massacre — The  long  delay  of  justice — The  author  visita  Lee  and  hears 
his  confession — Lee  arrested — National  interest — Lee's  trial  and  execution. 

THE  moving  causes  of  the  Mountain  Meadows  massacre  were 
greed,  revenge  and  fanaticism.  The  first  is  explained  by  the 
richness  of  the  captured  train  ;  the  last  can  never  be  quite  fully 
explained  by  human  wisdom.  That  mysterious  power  of  self- 
deception  by  which  men  persuade  themselves  that  they  can  shed 
blood  for  the  love  of  God  and  carry  on  wars  of  extermination 
to  extend  the  kingdom  of  the  Prince  of  Peace ;  that  they  can 
steal  all  the  rewards  of  a  man's  labor  because  the  Hebrews  held 
slaves,  or  make  woman  a  prostitute  for  the  kingdom  of  heaven's 
sake — this,  I  say,  is  beyond  the  analysis  of  a  mere  human 
philosophy.  It  bears  no  well-known  relation  to  the  feelings 
and  thoughts  which  influence  ordinary  men  in  ordinary  affairs. 
The  element  of  revenge,  however,  we  can  trace  directly  to  its 
source. 

The  reader  is  sufficiently  familiar  with  the  trials  of  the  Saints 
in  Missouri,  and  can  appreciate  their  bitter  feelings  against  all 
Missourians.  In  1856  another  tragedy  had  caused  them  to  in- 
clude Arkansas  in  their  anathemas.  Parley  P.  Pratt  was  the 
Isaiah  of  Mormonisrn.  After  long  research  in  the  publications 
of  the  church,  I  am  prepared  to  say  that  his  are  the  only  apos- 
tolic productions  which  can  claim  even  a  moderate  amount  of 
literary  excellence.  Those  of  Orson  Spencer  are  clear  and  ex- 
plicit enough,  but  devoid  of  all  pretense  to  style;  those  of  Orson 


AND  CRIMES  OF   MORMONISM.  167 

Pratt  as  learned  and  argumentative  as  anything  in  favor  of  such 
foolery  could  be.  But  the  writings  of  Parley  P.  Pratt  are  al- 
ways lucid,  frequently  poetic,  and  in  a  few  cases  border  on  the 
sublime.  Being  such  a  writer,  as  well  as  a  fanatical  Mormon 
and  active  missionary,  he  was  devotedly  loved  by  his  people. 
On  one  mission  he  converted  the  wife  of  one  Hector  McLean, 
of  Arkansas ;  she  accompanied  him  to  Salt  Lake  City,  and  there 
he  married  her,  though  he  already  had  five  wives !  McLean 
had  repudiated  his  wife  when  she  left  for  Utah,  and  would 
probably  have  bothered  himself  but  little  about  her;  but  in  two 
or  three  years  she  returned  with  Pratt,  on  a  missionary  tour, 
abducted  her  children  and  attempted  to  escape  with  them  to 
Utah.  Then  McLean  resolved  to  have  blood. 

She  was  to  meet  Apostle  Pratt  at  Fort  Smith,  Arkansas ; 
there,  however,  he  was  arrested  on  the  charge  of  abduction,  but 
she  assumed  all  responsibility,  and  he  was  cleared.  He  fled 
across  the  line  into  the  Indian  Nation,  McLean  in  close  pursuit. 
Mrs.  McLean  Pratt  (whose  account  I  now  follow)  says  the 
people  in  the  town  turned  out  and  cheered  on  her  ex-husband 
after  her  acting  husband,  as  if  it  had  been  an  exciting  pursuit 
after  wild  game.  McLean  overtook  Pratt  in  the  country, 
struck  him  from  his  horse  with  a  heavy  bowie-knife,  inflicting 
a  mortal  wound,  then  shot  him  as  he  lay  on  the  ground.  Mc- 
Lean received  something  very  like  an  ovation  that  evening  in 
Fort  Smith,  and  took  the  boat  for  New  Orleans  without  arrest. 
In  the  South  it  is  no  crime  in  the  people's  minds  to  kill  the 
invader  of  family  honor,  and  this  case  was  made  peculiarly 
atrocious  by  the  attempted  abduction.  But  in  Mormon  eyes 
Pratt  was  a  sainted  martyr,  and  when  they  saw  a  mixed  train 
of  Arkansas  and  Missouri  people  passing  through  Utah,  their 
thirst  for  revenge  was  still  fierce. 

The  ill-fated  train  was  rich  in  money  and  stock.  There  were 
half  a  dozen  or  more  wealthy  old  gentlemen,  with  their  sons, 
sons-in-law  and  their  several  families,  including  a  large  number 
of  young  ladies ;  also  a  few  young  men  from  Vermont,  a  Ger- 
man doctor  and  man  of  science,  two  lads  from  some  Eastern 
city,  and  a  son  of  Dr.  Aden,  of  Kentucky.  All  the  Missouri 


168  POLYGAMY;    OK,    THE    MYSTERIES 

and  Arkansas  people  were  related  by  blood,  and  when  they 
were  killed,  a  whole  clan,  so  to  speak,  was  cut  off.  The  re- 
covered children,  in  many  instances,  could  find  no  relations. 
There  were  forty  wagons,  several  hundred  horses  and  cattle,  a 
piano,  some  elegant  carriages,  several  riding  horses  for  the 
young  ladies,  and  an  immense  amount  of  jewelry,  clothing,  and 
minor  articles.  The  value  of  the  booty  taken  has  been  esti- 
mated all  the  way  from  $150,000  to  §300,000. 

Seeing  that  they  were  in  a  hostile  country  they  hastened  on  ; 
but  as  they  advanced  southward  from  Salt  Lake  (they  were 
going  to  Los  Angeles),  they  found  the  people  steadily  more 
hostile.  They  were  denied  passage  through  some  of  the  towns, 
and  had  to  make  a  detour  on  the  desert ;  they  could  purchase 
no  provisions,  and  found  that  in  spite  of  themselves  they  were 
constantly  violating  municipal  ordinances,  and  liable  to  arrest. 
At  Beaver  they  were  joined  by  a  Missourian  who  had  been  in 
custody  among  the  Mormons ;  he  urged  them  to  hurry  on  as 
they  valued  their  lives.  Passing  through  Cedar  City  it  is  be- 
lieved they  saw  signs  of  their  coming  danger,  and  redoubled 
their  exertions  to  get  beyond  the  Utah  limits.  At  last  they 
reached  the  glen  known  as  Mountain  Meadows,  on  the  "divide" 
between  the  waters  flowing  into  the  Great  Basin  and  those 
draining  into  the  Colorado,  and  paused  to  recruit  their  stock 
before  entering  on  the  Ninety-Mile  desert. 

Meanwhile  some  secret  work,  not  yet  fully  explained,  had 
been  going  on  in  Salt  Lake  City.  There  is  some  evidence  that 
a  plan  was  once  agreed  upon  to  have  the  emigrants  killed  as 
they  crossed  the  Provo  "  bench,"  only  forty  miles  from  Salt 
Lake ;  but  it  was  finally  thought  best  to  let  them  get  beyond 
the  settlements.  George  A.  Smith,  Brigham's  First  Councillor, 
went  south  ahead  of  the  party,  forbidding  the  people  to  sell 
them  anything,  of  which  and  the  results  a  curious  account  will 
be  found  in  Lee's  confession.  So  far  the  evidence  is  explicit 
and  uncontradicted,  but  beyond  this  point  there  is  some  slight 
conflict  of  testimony.  I  adopt  the  confession  of  Lee  as  to  all 
his  movements,  and  in  other  matters  that  of  Klingensmith,  the 
main  witness,  of  Mrs.  Ann  Eliza  Hoge,  who  was  present  at  the 


AND   CRIMES   OF   MOKMONISM. 


169 


council  where  the  massacre  was  decided  on,  and  of  those  mem- 
bers of  the  militia  who  confessed  their  own  share  in  it.  The 
principal  conflict  of  testimony  is  as  to  the  assembling  of  the 
Mormon  forces,  and  the  persons  who  urged  on  the  massacre. 

The  day  after  the  emigrants  passed  Harmony,  John  D.  Lee, 
Bishop  and  President,  called  a  council  and  stated  that  he  had 
received  command  "  to  follow  and  attack  the  accursed  Gentiles, 
and  let  the  arrows  of  the  Almighty  drink  their  blood."  He 


FIVE  WIVES  :    "  LET  US  HAVE  PEACE." 

stated  that  they  were  from  Missouri,  which  had  expelled  Uod's 
people,  and  from  Arkansas,  which  had  sanctioned  the  murder 
of  the  apostle ;  he  recited  the  Hawn's  Mill  massacre  of  Mor- 
mons, the  murder  of  Joseph  and  Hyrum  Smith  and  others,  and 
called  for  an  affirmative  vote.  All  hands  were  held  up,  and  the 
expedition  was  at  once  fitted  out.  Lee  turned  out  the  Indians 
under  his  charge  (he  was  agent  and  farmer  for  the  Indian  allies 
of  the  church  in  that  section),  and  a  regular  call  for  the  militia 
*f  Iron  county  was  issued  by  Colonel  W.  H.  Dame,  Major  John 


1 70  POLYGAMY  ;   OB,   THE   MYSTERIES 

D.  Lee  and  Captains  Haight  and  Higby.  Two  men  testify 
that,  after  being  ordered  out,  they  sat  all  night  talking  and 
praying  while  the  supply  wagons  ran  backward  and  forward ; 
that  they  asked  God's  forgiveness  if  about  to  do  wrong,  but 
finally  had  to  go  with  their  company. 

The  Indians  had  meanwhile  opened  the  attack.  A  portion 
crept  down  a  ravine  near  the  camp,  and  fired  upon  the  emi- 
grants while  at  breakfast,  killing  ten  or  twelve. 

The  latter  were  completely  taken  by  surprise,  but  seized 
their  arms,  shoved  the  wagons  together,  sunk  the  wheels  in  the 
earth,  and  got  in  condition  for  defence.  The  idea  that  enough 
of  the  Utes  of  that  district  could  be  got  together  to  attack  a 
train  with  sixty  armed  men,  is  too  absurd  to  be  entertained  for  a 
moment,  and  the  emigrants  had  rested  in  the  ease  of  fancied 
security.  But  their  resistance  was  far  greater  than  the  Mor- 
mons had  expected;  and  there  for  nearly  a  week,  with  their 
women  and  children  lying  in  the  trenches  they  had  dug,  they 
maintained  the  siege  and  kept  the  savages,  as  they  supposed,  at 
bay.  And  all  of  this  time,  as  testified  by  Mrs.  Hamlin,  wife 
of  the  agent,  the  shots  were  constantly  heard  at  Hamlin's  ranche, 
and  parties  of  Mormons,  bishops,  elders  and  laymen,  were  com- 
ing and  going  to  and  from  the  rauche,  eating  and  drinking 
there,  and  "pitching  quoit*  and  amusing  themselves  in  various 
ways."  They  had  the  emigrants  effectually  secured,  and  could 
afford  to  divide  time  and  slaughter  the  Gentiles  at  their  leisure. 
But  at  the  end  of  a  week  they  grew  tired  and  resolved  upon 
strategy.  The  firing  ceased,  and  while  the  weary  and  heart- 
sick emigrants  looked  for  relief,  and  hoped  that  their  savage 
foes  had  given  up  the  attack,  they  saw,  at  the  upper  end  of  the 
little  hollow  in  which  they  were,  a  wagon  full  of  men.  The 
latter  raised  a  white  flag,  and  it  was  perceived  they  were  white 
men.  A  glad  shout  of  joy  rang  through  the  corral  at  sight  of 
men  of  their  own  color,  and  the  emigrants  held  up  a  little  girl 
dressed  in  white  to  answer  the  signal. 

Their  captains  came  out,  met  Lee  and  party,  and  arranged 
for  their  surrender.  They  were  to  give  up  everything,  in- 
cluding their  arms,  be  taken  back  to  the  settlement  and  taken 


AND   CRIMES   OF    MORMONI8M.  171 

care  of,  but  held  till  the  war  was  over.  On  this  agreement 
they  started  on  their  return.  There  were  sixty  fighting  men, 
forty  women,  and  forty -eight  children.  In  front  were  two 
wagons,  driven  by  Mormons  and  containing  the  men  wounded 
in  the  siege;  behind  them  were  the  women  and  children,  and 
lastly  the  men.  Beside  the  men  marched  the  Mormon  militia 
in  single  file.  Off  on  either  side  were  mounted  men  to  intercept 
any  who  might  break  through  the  lines.  A  hollow  crosses  the 
road  there;  on  each  side  of  the  way  as  it  enters  the  hollow  are 
rocks  and  bushes  where  the  Indians  lay  in  ambush.  As  testi- 
fied to  by  one  witness,  the  women  talked  joyfully  of  their  rescue 
from  the  Indians,  and  thanked  God  that  they  were  under  the 
protection  of  white  men. 

All  was  in  readiness.  As  the  wagons  passed  the  gully  and 
the  women  and  children  were  just  entering  it,  Ike  Higbee, 
standing  on  the  bluff  above,  waved  his  hand  as  a  signal. 
Haight  gave  command :  Halt !  fire ! !  On  the  instant  the  Mor- 
mon militia  turned,  and  with  their  guns  almost  touching  their 
victims,  discharged  one  volley,  and  almost  every  man  of  the 
emigrants  fell  dead.  With  loud  screams  the  women  and  chil- 
dren turned  and  ran  back  toward  the  men.  The  Indians  and 
Mormons  rushed  upon  them,  shooting,  stabbing,  braining,  and 
in  twenty  minutes  six  score  of  Americans  lay  dead  upon  the 
ground,  the  hapless  victims  of  Mormonism.  No  circumstance 
of  horror  was  lacking.  Indians  and  Mormons  bit  and  tore  the 
rings  from  the  fingers  and  ears  of  the  women,  and  with  insult- 
ing yells  trampled  in  the  faces  of  the  dying. 

One  girl  knelt  and  begged  a  son  of  John  D.  Lee  for  life. 
He  hesitated,  but  the  father  pushed  him  aside,  and  shot  her 
through  the  head.  Several  broke  through  the  line,  but  were 
killed  by  the  mounted  men.  Two  girls  ran  down  the  gully 
and  over  the  ridge,  to  the  slope  where  the  Indian  boy  Albert 
was  hid,  to  watch  the  massacre.  He  says  that  they  begged  him 
to  save  them,  and  he  directed  them  where  to  hide  in  a  thicket. 
The  next  minute  John  D.  Lee  and  Bill  Stewart  came  galloping 
across  the  hollow,  and,  with  savage  curses,  ordered  him  to  point 
out  the  runawp/s.  He  dared  not  disobey,  and  soon  the  girls 


172  POLYGAMY. 

were  dragged  out.  Kneeling  to  Lee,  they  poured  out  the  most 
passionate  prayers  for  mercy — they  would  be  his  slaves,  would 
never  betray  him,  would  work  for  him  forever.  While  one 
clung  to  his  knees  he  jerked  her  suddenly  upon  her  back,  and, 
placing  his  knee  upon  her  breast,  cut  her  throat  from  ear  to 
ear !  The  other  had,  meanwhile,  run  away.  He  overtook  her, 
and,  by  a  savage  blow  on  the  back  of  the  head  with  a  ragged 
stone,  crushed  in  her  skull.  Both  these  bodies  were  missed  by 
the  burying  party,  and,  strange  to  say,  lay  there  ten  days  un- 
touched by  the  wolves.  When  Hamlin  returned  from  Salt 
Lake  City,  Albert  pointed  them  out,  and  they  were  buried. 
Hamlin  adds  that  there  was  not  the  mark  of  a  tooth  on  either 
body,  and  no  sign  of  decay,  so  pure  was  the  air.  Their  fair 
countenances  were  like  those  of  persons  just  dead,  and  their 
handsome  forms  untouched  by  the  beasts  and  birds  of  prey. 
Nature  and  the  wild  beasts  of  the  mountain  were  kinder  to 
them  than  men  of  their  own  race  and  color. 

One  witness,  a  mere  lad  at  the  time,  relates  that  Bill  Stewart 
walked  carefully  over  the  array  of  bodies,  and  finished  with  his 
bowie-knife  those  who  showed  any  signs  of  life.  Judge  Wen- 
dell, then  a  Mormon,  now  a  resident  of  Nevada,  says  he  has  it 
from  unquestioned  authority  that  all  the  corpses  were  stripped 
almost  before  they  were  cold,  and  that  it  was  done  with  coarse 
and  obscene  jests.  Three  men  had  escaped  the  principal  mas- 
sacre. The  night  before  the  fatal  day  the  emigrants  drew  up 
a  paper  in  which  they  described  their  condition,  addressed  to 
"  Masons,  Odd-Fellows,  Baptists,  Methodists  and  all  good  peo- 
ple in  the  States ; "  they  signed  this  according  to  classes,  so 
many  members  of  each  church,  lodge  or  chapter,  and  with  it 
the  three  young  men,  specially  chosen  for  fleetness  of  foot, 
crawled  down  the  ravine  and  escaped.  The  Indians  killed  two 
the  next  night.  The  third  got  to  the  last  point  on  the  Santa 
Clara,  where  he  was  overtaken  by  Ira  Hatch  and  a  band  of  In- 
dians, sent  in  pursuit,  and  murdered.  Jacob  Hamlin  obtained 
the  paper  and  kept  it  many  years ;  but  Lee  learned  of  its  ex- 
istence, took  it  from  him  and  destroyed  it  after  administering  a 
sharp  reproof.  It  is  also  related  that  an  old  man,  in  the 


(178) 


174  POLYGAMY. 

wagons  with  the  wounded,  escaped  to  the  mountains  and  was 
never  again  seen  or  heard  of.  Doubtless  he  perished  in  some 
secluded  canon,  afraid  to  approach  the  settlements. 

Of  the  seventeen  children  saved  alive,  one  soon  after  dis- 
appeared. Mrs.  Hoge  says,  he  talked  in  such  a  way  as  to  show 
he  remembered  the  massacre,  and  that  Lee  took  him  away  and 
he  was  seen  no  more ;  but  I  have  no  other  evidence  of  this. 
The  others  were  first  taken  to  Mrs.  Hamlin's,  and  afterwards 
distributed  among  Mormon  families  in  the  neighborhood ;  one 
was  shot  through  the  arm  and  lost  the  use  of  it.  They  were 
all  recovered  two  years  after  and  returned  to  their  friends  in 
the  States.  The  property  was  divided,  the  Indians  getting 
most  of  the  flour  and  ammunition;  but  they  claim  that  the 
Mormons  kept  more  than  their  share.  Much  of  it  was  sold  in 
Cedar  City  at  public  auction;  it  was  there  facetiously  styled, 
"  Property  taken  at  the  siege  of  Sebastopol ; "  and  there  is 
legal  proof  that  the  clothing  stripped  from  the  corpses,  spotted 
with  blood  and  flesh,  and  shredded  by  bullets,  was  placed  in  the 
cellar  of  the  tithing  office,  and  privately  sold.  The  finest  stock 
was  distributed  among  the  dignitaries  in  the  neighborhood;  and 
in  1872,  Bishop  Windsor,  of  Pipe  Springs,  Arizona,  pointed 
out  to  me  cattle  in  his  own  herd  descended  from  stock  taken  at 
Mountain  Meadows.  Forty  head  of  cattle  were  driven  to  Salt 
Lake  City,  and  traded  for  boots  and  shoes  to  Hon.  William  H. 
Hooper.  Thirteen  years  afterwards  this  man  stood  up  in  his 
place  in  the  American  Congress,  and  solemnly  called  God  to  wit- 
ness that  the  Mormons  had  nothing  to  do  with  this  massacre — 
it  was  all  the  work  of  the  Indians.  The  carriages,  wagons, 
and  jewelry  were  divided  among  the  leaders.  And  then  Major 
John  D.  Lee,  as  military  commandant,  and  Philip  Klingen- 
smith,  as  bishop,  went  to  Salt  Lake  City  and  laid  a  full  report 
before  Brigham  Young — "Governor  of  Utah  and  ex-ojficio 
Superintendent  of  Indian  Affairs,"  by  the  grace  of  His  Excel- 
lency Franklin  Pierce. 

Brigham  sent  word  to  the  bishops:  "Don't  talk  about  this 
thing,  even  among  yourselves— especially  let  the  women  keep 
still  about  it — let  it  be  forgotten  as  soon  as  possible."  Haight 


JOHN    I).    I.EK    WARNED. 


(175) 


I7»i  I'OLYUAMY  ;     Ml:.    THE     MYSTKlii; 

and  Lee  came  up  to  Salt  Lake  soon  after  as  Councillor  and 
Representative  from  that  county,  sat  in  the  legislature,  attended 
the  usual  ball  given  by  the  governor,  and  each  went  home 
\vith  a  young  wife,  bestowed  as  a  reward,  "  sealed "  in  the 
Endowment  House  by  the  Prophet  Brigham  Young  !  Nobody 
left  the  neighborhood ;  nobody  lost  caste.  Lee  remained  a 
bishop  for  thirteen  years  afterward.  Dame  is  a  bishop  yet ; 
Higbee  is  a  prominent  citizen,  and  Haight  was  still  a  bishop 
when  I  last  saw  him  in  1872.  The  dead  were  buried;  peace 
was  made  by  Commissioners  Powell  and  McCulloch  with  King 
Brigham ;  a  new  emigrant  road  was  laid  off,  lest  Gentiles 
might  discover  something  in  passing  through  the  meadows,  and 
no  mention  of  the  affair  was  made  in  Mormon  society  or  in  the 
Mormon  organ,  the  Deseret  News. 

And  so  all  was  done,  and  the  dread  secret  was  safe.  The 
last  adult  emigrant  had  fed  the  wolves;  the  only  child  old 
enough  to  remember  anything  about  it  had  "  disappeared," 
and  the  rest,  distributed  in  various  settlements,  soon  looked 
upon  the  Mormons  as  their  people,  and  forgot  that  they  ever 
had  Gentile  parents.  Even  the  women,  forgetting  their  natural 
instincts  at  Brigharn's  command,  "quit  talking  about  it." 
Apparently  all  was  secured  against  detection.  But  the  human 
heart  is  not  made  for  such  an  inhabitant,  and  men  could  not 
withhold  themselves  from  talking  after  the  madness  of  1857 
wore  itself  out.  Dazed  and  bewildered,  they  slowly  emerged 
from  the  state  of  excitement,  and  asked  themselves  what  had 
been  done.  Strange  rumors  spread  northward  from  settlement 
to  settlement.  Some  of  the  boys  from  Washington  county 
came  north  after  the  peace,  and  met  their  friends  who  had 
served  against  Johnston's  army ;  and  often  muttered  over  their 
cups  that  they  did  not  like  "the  business  they  had  been 
engaged  in  down  south."  A  lad  in  Beaver  began  to  act  very 
strangely — he  drank  deep  of  native  whisky,  and  never  stag- 
gered under  it;  but  told  of  very  strange  things  that  he  saw. 

A  few  apostates  fled  from  that  neighborhood,  and  soon  after 
an  account,  brief  and  very  imperfect,  of  the  massacre  appeared 
in  a  California  paper.  The  Deseret  News  officially  pronounced 


AND   CRIMES   OF   MORMONISM.  177 

It  a  lie.  Next  it  admitted  that  there  had  been  a  massacre,  but 
claimed  it  was  all  the  work  of  Indians ;  and  this  continued  the 
Mormon  plea  till  concealment  was  no  longer  possible.  In 
1858  Judge  Cradlebaugh  investigated  it,  the  witnesses  coming  to 
him  secretly  by  night;  in  1859  General  W.  H.  Carleton  made 
a  more  thorough  investigation,  and  a  full  report.  He  also 
collected  and  buried  the  remains,  erecting  over  them  a  rude 
monument  and  a  cross.  Eleven  years  after  the  Federal  officials 
made  a  more  searching  inquiry ;  then  the  Mormons  admitted 
that  John  D.  Lee  was  implicated,  and  nominally  expelled  him 
from  the  church.  Still  he  continued  church  Indian  agent,  but 
his  retreat  was  now  in  the  wild  and  rocky  fastnesses  of  Pahreah 
Cation,  on  the  Colorado,  in  Arizona,  and  far  from  the  settle- 
ments. From  that  locality  strange  rumors  from  time  to  time 
reached  us  at  Salt  Lake;  at  one  time  that  Lee  had  been  killed 
by  the  Dauites ;  at  another  that  he  was  hopelessly  insane,  and 
yet  again  that  he  had  turned  Indian  out  and  out,  and  was 
living  among  them. 

In  the  summer  of  1872  the  author  of  this  book  made  a  long 
journey  through  northern  Arizona  on  horseback,  with  some 
Navajo  Indians ;  and  early  in  July  they  left  me  at  the  house  of 
John  D.  Lee,  where  I  remained  three  days;  I  also  visited 
Jacob's  Pool,  where  Lee's  older  wife  lived  in  a  bough  cabin 
with  her  son  and  daughter.  Of  the  hospitality  of  his  wife 
and  his  own  rude  friendliness  I  need  not  speak ;  but  the  night 
before  my  departure  he  and  I  slept  together  upon  a  straw  bed 
on  the  ground  near  his  house.  He  grew  confidential, 
and  we  talked  till  midnight  of  the  massacre,  and  related 
incidents.  Of  that  conversation  I  record  here  only  these 
brief  extracts  : 

"The  company  had  quarreled  and  separated  east  of  the 
mountains,  but  it  was  the  biggest  half  that  come  first.  They 
come  south  of  Salt  Lake  City  just  as  all  the  men  was  going  out 
to  the  war,  and  lots  of  women  and  children  lonely.  Their  con- 
duct was  scandalous.  They  swore  and  boasted  openly  that  they 
helped  shoot  the  guts  out  of  Joe  Smith  and  Hyrum  Smith,  at 
Carthage,  and  that  Buchanan's  whole  army  was  coming  right 
12 


178 


POLYGAMY;    OR,    THK    MVSTKKIER 


behind  them,  and  would  kill  every  G — d  d — n  Mormon  in 
Utah,  and  make  the  women  and  children  slaves,  and  .  .  . 
They  had  two  bulls,  which  they  called  one  '  Heber '  and  the 
other  '  Brigham,'  and  whipped  'em  thro'  every  town,  yelling 
and  singing,  blackguarding  and  blaspheming  oaths  that  would 
have  made  your  hair  stand  on  end.  At  Spanish  Fork — it  can 


JACOB'S  POOL  AND  JOHN   D.    LEE'S  WIFE. 

be  proved — one  of  'em  stood  on  his  wagon-tongue,  and  swung 
a  pistol,  and  swore  that  he  helped  kill  old  Joe  Smith,  and 
was  ready  for  old  Brigham  Young,  and  all  sung  a  blackguard 
song,  '  Oh,  we've  got  the  ropes  and  we'll  hang  old  Brigham 
before  the  snow  flies/  and  all  such  stuff.  Well,  it  was  mighty 
hard  to  bear,  and  when  they  got  to  where  the  Pahvant  Indians 


AND    CRIMES    OF    MORMONISM.  179 

was,  they  shot  one  of  them  dead  and  crippled  another.  But 
the  worst  is  coming. 

"At  Corn  Creek,  just  this  side  of  Fillmore,  they  poisoned  a 
spring  and  the  flesh  of  an  ox  that  died  there,  and  gave  that  to 
the  Indians,  and  some  Indians  died.  Then  the  widow  Tomlin- 
son,  just  this  side,  had  an  ox  poisoned  at  the  spring,  and  she 
thought  to  save  the  hide  and  tallow ;  and  rendering  it  up,  the 
poison  got  in  her  face,  and  swelled  it  up,  and  she  died.  This 
roused  everybody.  Well,  they  came  on  down  the  road,  and 
with  their  big  Missouri  whips  would  snap  off  the  heads  of 
chickens  and  throw  'em  into  their  wagons ;  and  when  a  widow, 
Missis  Evans,  came  out  and  said:  ' Don't  kill  my  chickens, 
gentlemen,  I'm  a  poor  woman/  one  of  'em  yelled,  'Shut  up, you 
G — d  d — d  Mormon,  or  I'll  shoot  you  ! '  Then  her  sons  and 
all  her  folks  got  out  with  guns,  and  swore  they'd  have  revenge 
on  the  whole  outfit.  By  this  time  the  Indians  had  gathered 
from  all  directions,  and  overtook  'em  at  Mountain  Meadow. 
They  planned  it  to  crawl  down  a  narrow  ravine  and  get 
in  close,  and  make  a  rush  altogether.  But  one  fool  Indian 
fired  too  soon  and  gave  the  alarm.  This  spoilt  the  plan,  but  all 
in  reach  fired,  and  killed,  well,  five  or  six  men.  Then  a  sort  o' 
siege  began.  The  men  inside  did  well — the  best  they  could 
have  done.  They  got  the  wagons  corraled  and  dug  rifle-pits. 
The  Indians  could  not  hit  any  more  of  the  people,  but  shot 
nearly  all  their  oxen  and  some  horses 

"I  never  will  mention  any  names,  or  betray  my  brethren. 
Those  men  were  God-fearing  men.  Their  motives  were  pure. 
They  knelt  down  and  prayed  to  be  guided  in  council.  But 
they  was  full  of  zeal.  Their  zeal  was  greater  than  their 
knowledge 

"An  express  had  been  sent  to  Brigham  Young  at  first 
to  know  what  to  do,  and  it  is  a  pity  it  didn't  get  back  ;  for  those 
enthusiastic  men  will  obey  counsel.  The  president  sent  back 
orders,  and  told  the  man  to  ride  night  and  day,  by  all  means  to 
let  the  emigrants  go  on  ;  to  call  off  the  Indians,  and  for  no  Mor- 
mons to  molest  them.  But  the  thing  was  all  over  before 
the  express  got  back  to  Provo.  There  was  about  eighty  fight- 


180  POLYGAMY;    OK,    THE    MYSTERIES 

ing  men  that  was  killed.  I  don't  know  how  many  women, 
though  not  many.  All  the  children  was  saved.  The  little  boy 
that  lived  with  us  cried  all  night  when  he  left  us,  and  said  he'd 
come  back  to  us  as  soon  as  he  got  old  enough. 

"It  is  told  around  for  a  fact  that  I  could  tell  great  confes- 
sions, and  bring  in  Brigham  Young  and  the  Heads  of  the 
Church.  But  if  I  was  to  make  forty  confessions,  I  could  not 
bring  in  Brigham  Young.  His  counsel  was :  '  Spare  them,  by 
all  means.'  But  I  am  made  to  bear  the  blame.  Here  I  am,  old, 
poor,  and  lonely,  away  down  in  this  place — carrying  the  sins  of 
my  brethren.  But  if  I  endure,  great  is  my  reward.  Bad 
as  that  thing  was,  I  will  not  be  the  means  of  bringing  troubles 
on  my  people;  for,  you  know  yourself,  that  this  people  is 
a  misrepresented  and  cried-down  community.  Yes,  a  people 
scattered  and  peeled,  whose  blood  was  shed  in  great  streams  in 
Missouri,  only  for  worshipping  God  as  he  was  revealed  to 
them  ;  and  if  at  the  last  they  did  rise  up  and  shed  blood  of  their 
enemies,  I  won't  consent  to  give  'em  up." 

In  the  late  autumn  of  1874  John  D.  Lee  was  arrested,  pur- 
suant to  indictment  and  writ  from  the  District  Court  at  Provo, 
Hon.  Jacob  S.  Boreman,  Judge.  Changes  in  the  law,"  to 
be  hereafter  detailed,  had  made  it  possible  to  occasionally 
secure  a  fair-minded  jury  in  Utah  ;  such  a  one  had  indicted 
Lee,  and  by  strategy  of  U.  S.  Marshal  Owens,  he  was  captured 
while  on  a  visit  to  his  four  wives  at  Panguitch  on  the  Sevier 
river.  Great  was  the  interest  felt  throughout  Utah,  and 
indeed 'all  over  the  country;  and  when  his  trial  came  on 
at  Beaver,  in  the  summer  of  1875,  there  was  a  large  attendance. 
It  was  indeed  a  strange  drama.  Correspondents  from  the  East 
and  West  flocked  thither,  and  for  the  first  time  a  little  of  the 
inner  life  of  Mormondom  was  brought  to  light  in  open  court, 
and  reported  to  all  the  world.  The  most  incredulous  were 
compelled  to  acknowledge  Mormon  guilt,  and  there  began  the 
series  of  trials  which  will  eventually  make  the  world  acquainted 
with  Brigham  Young  as  he  really  was. 

It  required  the  most  persevering  exertions  to  get  the  wit- 
nesses together.  When  Lee  was  cut  off  from  the  Church,  in 


AND   CRIMES   OF    MORMONTSM.  181 

1871,  all  the  Mormons  in  one  day,  as  it  were,  changed  their 
tone  and  began  to  denounce  him  as  the  bloodiest  villain  of  the 
age.  In  fact  they  were  extremely  anxious  to  have  him  pun- 
ished— they  even  wanted  him  strung  up  at  once.  As  the  day 
of  trial  drew  near,  you  might  have  read  in  all  the  Mormon 
prints  savage  denunciations  of  his  crime,  and  pitiful  plaints 
"  that  innocent  and  noble  men  should  have  been  accused  of 
complicity  with  it."  When  it  was  announced  that  Lee  was 
about  to  turn  State's  evidence,  the  Mormon  prints  indulged  in 
joyful  congratulations  that  his  statement  would  "completely 
exonerate  President  Young  and  the  Heads  of  the  Church."  All 
this  looked  very  strange,  to  say  the  least.  And,  sure  enough, 
when  Lee's  statement  was  submitted  to  the  District  Attorney,  it 
was  easily  proved  to  be  a  tissue  of  lies  from  beginning  to  end, 
as  shown  by  abundant  testimony.  All  the  guilty,  he  said,  were 
either  dead  or  out  of  the  Territory  long  ago.  Not  a  line  did  it 
contain  about  any  one  of  those  in  custody.  It  is  now  believed 
to  have  been  a  Church  trick  from  the  start.  The  only  guilty 
man,  according  to  Lee,  was  Klingensmith,  the  principal  witness 
against  him. 

The  prosecution  was  conducted  by  District  Attorney  Wm.  C. 
Carey  and  R.  N.  Baskin,  Esq.,  of  Salt  Lake  City ;  the  defense 
by  Messrs.  J.  G.  Sutherland,  G.  C.  Bates,  Judge  Hoge  (a  Mor- 
mon), Wells  Spicer  and  W.  W.  Bishop — the  last  from  Pioche, 
Nevada,  all  the  others  from  Salt  Lake.  The  examination  of 
jurors  on  the  voir  dire  was  as  perfect  an  exhibit  of  Mormonisnii 
as  I  ever  witnessed.  All  the  Mormons  called  swore  they  had 
neither  formed  nor  expressed  an  opinion,  and  knew  nothing 
special  about  the  case.  One  swore  he  had  lived  in  the  same 
town  with  Lee,  but  heard  nothing  about  him  in  connection  with 
the  massacre ;  another  that  he  had  not  heard  of  it  at  all,  and  an- 
other that  he  was.  reared  in  the  neighborhood,  had  visited  the 
Meadows  and  seen  the  monument,  but  never  asked  what  it  was 
for,  and  had  never  heard  of  a  massacre  there !  The  whole  ex- 
amination after  this  broke  down  from  mere  absurdity,  and  after 
getting  three  non-Mormons  the  prosecution  gave  it  up  and 
allowed  the  Mormons  to  select  the  rest  of  the  jury. 


182 


POLYGAMY';    OR,    THE    MYSTERIES 


The  first  witnesses  merely  detailed  the  appearance  of  the 
ground  a  few  days  after  the  massacre ;  then  Philip  Klingen- 
smith  was  called,  and  every  eye  and  ear  was  strained  till  the  man 
was  thoroughly  photographed  by  every  attendant.  He  was  a 
heavy,  rather  stolid-looking  Dutchman,  six  feet  high,  well 
muscled,  slow  and  phlegmatic.  He  had  been  indicted  along 
with  the  others,  and  a  nolle  entered.  He  began  with  extreme 
slowness,  amounting  almost  to  stupidity,  but  as  he  went  along 
gradually  grew  more  animated ;  his  dull  eye  lighted  up,  the 
blue  veins  stood  out  on  his  forehead,  and  his  every  feature  and 
muscle  seemed  to  work  as  in  sympathy  with  the  horrors  he  was 
reciting.  In  the  most  blood-curdling  scene,  where  he  told  of 


HAMLIN'S  INDIAN  BOY  ALBERT. 

the  shooting  of  some  women  who  had  children  in  their  arms, 
every  eye  in  the  room  turned  as  with  one  impulse  to  Lee.  His 
light  hair  fairly  vibrated  with  emotion;  his  Hibernian  features 
were  mingled  red  and  purple ;  and,  as  he  literally  shook  in  his 
fhair,  the  great  veins  stood  out  on  his  neck  like  cords,  and  he 
seemed  to  grasp  at  his  throat  as  if  choking !  In  that  awful 
moment  he  tasted  the  bitterness  of  death.  I  would  not  have 
recognized  him  as  the  man  at  whose  table  I  ate,  three  years 
before,  on  the  Colorado. 

It   was   Klingensmith    whose  confession,  sworn    to   before 
a  judge  in  Nevada,  had  first  given  a  complete  history  of  the 


AND  CRIMES  OP   MOKMONI8M.  183 

massacre.  The  defense  attempted  to  prove  the  old  slander,  in- 
vented in  1859,  to  deceive  Judge  Cradlebaugh,  that  the  emi- 
grants had  poisoned  a  spring  near  Corn  Creek,  and  then  that 
they  had  poisoned  the  flesh  of  an  ox  and  given  it  to  the  Indians 
to  eat ;  but  broke  down  completely  on  both  charges.  On  this 
point  the  emigrants  were  completely  exonerated,  and  as  to  the 
outrageous  conduct  spoken  of  by  Lee,  it  was  afterwards  shown 
that  something  of  that  nature  was  perpetrated  by  another  com- 
pany, known  as  the  "Missouri  Wildcats;"  but  no  evidence 
whatever  was  adduced  to  show  misconduct  by  the  murdered 
party.  Brigham  Young  professed  to  be  unable  to  attend  the 
trial,  but  tried  very  hard  to  get  an  affidavit  admitted  denying 
his  complicity.  Failing  in  that  he  had  it  published  and  dis- 
tributed throughout  the  nation. 

The  case  was  fully  proved,  but  the  Mormon  jurymen  had 
been  instructed  by  the  priesthood  and  refused  to  convict.  They 
had  all  sworn  they  knew  nothing  of  the  case;  but  on  reaching 
the  jury-room,  they  proceeded  to  controvert  the  testimony  for 
the  prosecution  by  facts  within  their  own  knowledge.  The 
vote  stood  from  first  to  last,  nine  for  acquittal  and  three  for 
conviction.  The  majority  first  installed  the  Jack-Mormon,  J. 
C.  Heister,  in  the  chair,  and  then  one  by  one  delivered  elaborate 
Mormon  sermons :  against  the  prosecuting  attorneys,  against  the 
court  and  all  Federal  officials,  against  the  emigrants,  against 
the  United  States,  against  all  who  were  not  of  the  Mormon 
church  or  its  most  subservient  tools.  It  was  perhaps  the  most 
curious  and  irregular  jury  proceeding  ever  had  in  any  civilized' 
country.  The  three  Gentiles  on  the  panel  held  their  ground 
for  two  days,  smiling  grimly  on  their  foes,  and  willing  to  see 
the  latter  commit  themselves ;  then  consented  to  a  disagreement. 
A  storm  of  rage  swept  over  the  country  before  which  the  Mor- 
mon leaders  quailed  at  last.  Brigham  decided  to  give  up  Lee 
as  he  had  given  up  the  Hodges  thirty  years  before,  and  all  was 
properly  fixed  for  the  next  trial. 

This  came  on  in  September,  1876,  before  a  jury  all  Mor- 
mons ;  Daniel  H.  Wells  was  present  to  see  that  all  was  done 
according  to  counsel;  the  Mojmon  witnesses  remembered  all 


184  POLYGAMY;     OR,    THE    MYSTERIES 

they  had  forgotten  before  and  Lee  was  convicted.  Samuel 
Knight  and  Samuel  McMurdy  testified  to  seeing  Lee  kill  sev- 
eral persons;  that  he  blew  a  woman's  brains  out,  beat  one  man 
to  death  with  a  gun,  and  shot  others ;  then  came  to  the  wagons 
and  shot  all  the  wounded  men  with  a  pistol.  At  this  point  in 
the  testimony  Lee  broke  down,  and  when  remanded  to  his  cell 
walked  the  floor  a  long  time,  cursing  the  Mormon  leaders  who, 
he  said,  had  betrayed  him.  He  knew,  even  before  his  attorney 
did,  that  the  church  had  decided  to  give  him  up;  he  had  sus- 
pected this  at  the  start,  and  urged  his  attorney  to  secure  a  few 
Gentiles  on  the  jury,  in  the  hope  that  they  might  revolt  against 
this  conspiracy.  But  this  had  proved  impossible.  All  the 
Gentiles  called  had  heard  or  read  of  the  case ;  the  Mormons 
called  "  had  never  heard  of  it,  and  had  formed  no  opinion." 
For  "model  jurors"  they  could  beat  New  York  City. 

An  appeal  was  taken  and  the  judgment  confirmed.  Judge 
Boreman  sentenced  Lee  to  die  March  23d,  1877 ;  according  to 
law  in  Utah  he  had  choice  of  the  method  of  his  own  execution, 
and  chose  to  be  shot.  Before  his  death  Lee  wrote  two  confes- 
sions: a  short  one  to  be  published  at  once,  and  a  longer  one 
which  he  gave  his  lawyer,  Hon.  W.  W.  Bishop,  to  be  published 
after  Lee's  death  and  the  proceeds  to  pay  the  lawyer's  fee. 
From  the  former  the  following  extracts  are  of  interest: 

"Those  with  me  at  that  time  were  acting  under  orders  from 
the  church  of  Jesus  Christ  of  Latter-day  Saints.  The  horrid 
deeds  then  committed  were  done  as  a  duty  which  we  believed 
we  owed  to  God  and  our  church.  "VVe  were  all  sworn  to  secrecy 
before  and  after  the  massacre.  The  penalty  for  giving  informa- 
tion concerning  it  was  death 

"  In  the  month  of  September,  1857,  the  company  of  emi- 
grants, known  as  the  'Arkansas  Company/  arrived  in  Pa  rowan, 
Iron  county,  Utah,  on  their  way  to  California.  At  Parowan 
young  Aden,  one  of  the  company,  saw  and  recognized  one  Wil- 
liam Laney,  a  Mormon  resident  of  Parowan.  Aden  and  his 
father  had  rescued  Laney  from  an  anti-Mormon  mob  in  Ten- 
nessee several  years  before,  and  saved  his  life.  He  (Laney),  at 
the  time  he  was  attacked  by  the  mob,  was  a  Mormon  missionary 


AND   CRIMES   OF   MORMONISM.  185 

in  Tennessee.  Laney  was  glad  to  see  his  friend  and  benefactor, 
and  invited  him  to  his  house,  and  gave  him  some  garden-sauce 
to  take  back  to  the  camp  with  him. 

"The  same  evening  it  was  reported  to  Bishop  (Colonel) 
Dame  that  Laney  had  given  potatoes  and  onions  to  the  man 
Aden,  one  of  the  emigrants.  When  the  report  was  made  to 
Bishop  Dame  he  raised  his  hand  and  crooked  his  little  finger 
in  a  significant  manner  to  one  Barney  Carter,  his  brother-in- 
law,  and  one  of  the  'Angels  of  Death/  Carter,  without  another 
word,  walked  out,  went  to  Laney's  house  with  a  long  picket  in 
his  hand,  called  Laney  out,  and  struck  him  a  heavy  blow  on 
the  head,  fracturing  his  skull,  and  left  him  on  the  ground  for 
dead.  C.  Y.  Webb  and  Isaac  Newman,  President  of  the  '  High 
Council/  both  told  me  that  they  saw  Dame's  manoeuvres. 
James  McGuffee,  then  a  resident  of  Parowan — but  through 
oppression  has  been  forced  to  leave  there,  and  is  now  a  mer- 
chant in  Pahranagat  valley,  near  Pioche,  Nevada — knows 
these  facts 

"  Some  two  weeks  after  the  deed  was  done,  Isaac  C.  Haight 
sent  me  to  report  to  Governor  Young  in  person.  I  asked  him 
why  he  did  not  send  a  written  report.  He  replied  that  I  could 
tell  him  more  satisfactorily  than  he  could  write,  and  if  I  would 
stand  up  and  shoulder  as  much  of  the  responsibility  as  I  could 
conveniently,  that  it  would  be  a  feather  in  my  cap  some  day, 
and  that  I  would  get  a  celestial  salvation,  but  the  man  that 
shrunk  from  it  now  would  go  to  hell.  I  went  and  did  as  I 
was  commanded.  Brigham  asked  me  if  Isaac  C.  Haight  had 
written  a  letter  to  him.  I  replied,  not  by  me ;  but  he  wished 
me  to  report  in  person.  'All  right/  said  Brigham.  '  Were 
you  an  eye-witness ? ?  'To  the  most  of  it/  was  my  reply. 
Then  I  proceeded  and  gave  him  a  full  history  of  all.  I  told 
him  of  the  killing  of  the  women  and  children,  and  the  betray- 
ing of  the  company ;  that,  I  told  him,  I  was  opposed  to ;  but  I 
did  not  say  to  him  to  what  extent  I  was  opposed  to  it,  only 
that  I  was  opposed  to  shedding  innocent  blood.  '  Why/  said 
he,  '  you  differ  from  Isaac  (Haight),  for  he  said  there  was  noi 
a  drop  of  innocent  blood  in  the  whole  company.' 


186  POLYGAMY;    OR,   THE   MYSTERIES 

"  When  I  was  through  he  said  it  was  awful ;  that  he  cared 
nothing  about  the  men,  but  the  women  and  children  was  what 
troubled  him.  I  said:  'President  Young,  you  should  either 
release  men  from  their  obligation,  or  sustain  them  when  they 
do  what  they  have  entered  into  the  most  sacred  obligations  to 
do.'  He  replied  :  '  I  will  think  over  the  matter,  and  make  it  a 
subject  of  prayer,  and  you  may  come  back  in  the  morning  and 
see  me.'  I  did  so.  He  said  :  *  John,  I  feel  first-rate.  I  asked 
the  Lord,  if  it  was  all  right  for  the  deed  to  be  done,  to  take 
away  the  vision  of  the  deed  from  my  mind,  and  the  Lord  did 
so,  and  I  feel  first-rate.  It  is  all  right.  The  only  fear  I  have 
is  of  traitors.'  He  told  me  never  to  lisp  it  to  any  mortal  being, 
not  even  to  Brother  Heber.  President  Young  has  always 
treated  me  with  the  friendship  of  a  father  since,  and  has  sealed 
several  women  to  me  since,  and  has  made  my  house  his  home 
when  in  that  part  of  the  Territory — until  danger  has  threatened 
him." 

United  States  Marshal  William  Nelson  selected  Mountain 
Meadows  as  the  place  of  execution — an  act  which  Judge  Bore- 
man  disapproved,  as  he  thought  it  savored  of  revenge  and 
spectacular  display.  The  spot  selected  was  about  a  hundred 
yards  east  of  the  monument.  Lee  was  singularly  cheerful,  and 
at  the  last  minute  confessed  to  Rev.  Mr.  Stokes,  a  Methodist 
minister  in  attendance,  that  he  killed  five  of  the  emigrants  with 
his  own  hand — a  fact  he  had  always  denied  before.  A  photo- 
graph of  the  scene,  with  Lee  seated  on  his  coffin,  was  then 
taken;  he  requested  that  copies  might  be  sent  to  his  three 
wives,  Rachel,  Sarah  and  Emma,  who  had  remained  faithful  to 
the  last.  He  then  made  a  brief  address  and  seated  himself 
with  calmness  on  his  coffin.  The  five  soldiers  detailed  for  the 
purpose  took  their  stand,  and  Marshal  Nelson  gave  command : 

"  Make  ready !  Aim  !  Fire  !  " 

The  five  rifles  cracked  simultaneously  and  Lee  sank  back 
dead  without  a  struggle,  his  lips  parting  with  a  faint  smile. 
Five  balls  had  passed  through  him  in  the  immediate  vicinity 
of  the  heart 

Thus  died  John  Doyle  Lee,  a  man  of  great  natural  abilities 


AND   CRIMES    OF    MOKMONISM. 


is: 


corrupted  by  lust  and  fanaticism.  In  my  intercourse  with  him 
I  found  him  well  informed  on  many  topics,  a  great  observer  of 
nature,  apt  in  acquiring  knowledge,  especially  in  matters  of 
language.  He  was  born  September  6th,  1812,  at  Kaskaskia, 
Illinois,  soon  after  his  parents  arrived  from  Ireland,  and  was 
reared  a  Catholic,  turning  Mormon  in  1836.  His  features  were 
of  a  marked  Irish  cast,  and  his  temperament  sanguine.  He 
was  master  of  several  Indian  tongues  and  seemed  to  know  the 
whole  gamut  of  Indian  nature  by  instinct.  He  was  a  kind 
father,  a  rather  agreeable  husband,  a  hospitable  gentleman  and 
a  remorseless  bigot.  In  conclusion  I  cannot  sum  up  his  char- 
acter better  than  in  the  words  of  an  old  apostate  who  had 
known  him  long  and  well :  "  John  D.  Lee  was  a  man  who 
would  share  his  last  biscuit  with  the  traveller  on  the  desert, 
and  cut  that  traveller's  throat  the  same  hour  if  Brigham 
Young  gave  the  wordj" 


BXF.cn  ION  OF  JOHN  D.  LEE. 


188 


CHAPTER    XI. 

THE  GOVERNMENT  TAKES  A   HAND   IN   UTAH. 

The  Judges  make  inquiry  into  "  blood -atonement " — Investigation  of  the 
crimes  of  1856-57 — A  fresh  outbreak — Murders  of  Drown,  Arnold,  Sergeant 
Pike,  Franklin  McNeil  and  others — Civil  war  in  the  States  and  Aformon 
glee — Departure  of  Johnston's  army — Profits  to  the  Prophets — Brigham's 
despotism  restored — Governors  Dawson,  Harding,  Doty  and  Durkee — Secre- 
taries Wooton,  Fuller,  Reed  and  Higgins — Murders  of  Potter,  Wilson, 
Walker  and  Black  Tom— Of  Brassfield  and  Robinson— Panic  of  the  Gentiles 
— Peace  restored —The  author  arrives  in  Utah. 

I  RESUME  the  regular  history,  after  the  entrance  of  the  army, 
in  1858.  In  November  Judge  Sinclair  opened  his  court  in 
Salt  Lake  City,  and  charged  the  grand  jury  to  make  inquiry 
into  all  questions  of  treason,  intimidation  and  polygamy.  The 
jury  laughed  at  the  last  and  quietly  refused  the  first,  but  did 
present  James  Ferguson  and  others  for  the  interference  with 
Judge  Stiles  before  related.  Xo  action  was  taken  beyond  the 
mere  presentment.  The  following  cases  are  of  unusual  interest: 
Ralph  Pike,  Sergeant  in  Company  I,  Tenth  infantry,  had 
knocked  down  Howard  Spencer  at  the  military  reserve  in 
Rush  Valley.  The  grand  jury  found  an  indictment,  and 
Pike  was  arrested  and  brought  to  Great  Salt  Lake  City.  The 
day  following,  about  12  o'clock,  as  Pike  was  entering  the  Salt 
Lake  House,  on  Main  street,  Spencer  stepped  up  to  him  from 
behind,  saying,  "Are  you  the  man  that  struck  me  in  Rush  Val- 
ley?7' at  the  same  time  drawing  his  pistol,  and  shot  him 
through  the  side,  inflicting  a  mortal  wound.  Spencer  ran 
across  the  street,  mounted  his  horse  and  rode  off,  accompanied 
by  several  noted  Danites.  Pike  lingered  in  dreadful  agony 
two  days  before  he  died.  The  Deseret  News,  in  its  next  issue, 
lauded  young  Spencer  for  his  courage  and  bravery. 

A  much  more  mysterious  murder  was  that  of  Drown  and 


AND    CRIMES    OF    MORMONISM. 


189 


Arnold.  They  were  at  the  house  of  a  friend  in  Salt  Lake  City, 
when  Bill  Hickman,  the  Danite  Chief,  with  some  seven  or 
eight  of  his  band,  rode  up  to  the  house  and  called  for  Drown 
to  come  out.  Drown,  suspecting  foul  play,  refused  to  do  so 
and  locked  the  doors.  The  Dauites  thereupon  dismounted 
from  their  horses,  broke  down  the  doors  and  shot  down  both 
Drown  and  Arnold.  Drown  died  of  his  wounds  next  morn- 


THE  DANITE  CHIEF. 


ing,  and  Arnold  a  few  days  afterwards.  Hickman,  in  his 
confession,  says  he  killed  Drown  by  orders,  and  that  Arnold 
was  killed  by  accident.  Old  residents  who  are  willing  to  talk 
on  the  subject  say  that  Drown  and  Arnold  were  Spiritualists ; 
that  they  were  secretly  holding  a  spiritual  seance  when  attacked, 
and  that  the  priesthood  ordered  them  killed,  pursuant  to  the 
command  in  the  Hebrew  scriptures  to  exterminate  all  who  "  go 
a  whoring  after  familiar  spirits — all  who  peep  and  mutter,"  etc. 


190  POLYGAMY. 

The  exact  truth  as  to  those  two  murders  has  never  been  re- 
vealed ;  the  pointed  fact  is,  that  during  one  term  of  the 'court 
three  persons  were  killed  within  sight  of  the  grand  jury  room, 
and  that  body  took  no  action. 

Soon  after  a  deaf  and  dumb  boy  named  Andrew  Bernard  was 
killed  by  Ephe  Hanks,  a  noted  Dauite,  and  an  apostate  named 
Forbes  was  assassinated.  About  the  same  time  Franklin  Mc- 
Neil, who  had  a  suit  pending  against  Brigham  Young,  was 
killed.  Hickman  says  that  this  was  done  according  to  orders, 
but  Mr.  Sterrett,  with  whom  McNeil  boarded,  claims  that  it 
was  done  in  a  brawl.  Meanwhile  the  more  disorderly  element 
among  the  young  Mormons  began  to  associate  with  the  camp- 
followers  at  Camp  Floyd,  and  many  deadly  affrays  occurred 
there;  but  these  excited  no  such  horror  as  the  secret  assassina- 
tions in  and  near  Salt  Lake  City.  During  the  summer  of  1859 
it  is  reported  that  an  average  of  one  murder  a  week  occurred  in 
and  near  the  city.  The  desperadoes  killed  each  other ;  the  Salt 
Lake  police  killed  prisoners  under  pretense  that  they  were  try- 
ing to  escape,  and  midnight  assassinations  finished  the  obnoxious 
who  had  escaped  the  other  perils.  How  many  of  the  victim- 
were  guilty  of  actual  crime,  how  many  of  mere  opposition  to  the 
priesthood,  can  never  be  known  in  this  world  ;  death  was  the 
penalty  in  either  case.  The  record  is  horrible. 

This  peculiar  era  ended  with  a  very  curious  crime.  A  Mormon 
engraver  was  employed  by  some  persons  unknown  to  construct  a 
plate  similar  to  that  used  by  the  quartermaster  at  Camp  Floyd  for 
notes  drawn  upon  the  assistant  treasurers  of  the  United  States 
at  St.  Louis  and  New  York,  and  the  artist  was  so  successful 
that  it  was  difficult  to  tell  the  counterfeit  from  the  original. 
When  the  fraud  was  discovered,  the  principal  in  the  transaction 
was  arrested  at  Camp  Floyd,  and  a  few  hours  after  he  agreed 
to  become  state's  evidence.  In  his  confession  he  pandered  to 
the  prejudices  of  the  locality,  and  implicated  some  one  in  the 
office  of  Brigham  Young  as  having  furnished  the  paper,  and  it 
was  hoped  that  possibly  the  Prophet  himself  might  prove  to  be 
not  quite  guiltless.  The  latter  suspicion  was,  however,  proved 
to  be  unfounded,  but  Brewer,  the  informer,  was  a  doomed  man 


(191) 


192  POLYGAMY;   OR,    THE   MYSTERIES 

all  the  same.  One  evening  he  was  walking  down  Main  street 
with  Joaquin  Johnston,  a  wild  roysterer  of  the  West,  and  his 
boon  companion,  when  both  fell  dead,  having  each  received  a 
bullet  in  the  side  from  an  alley  on  the  opposite  side  of  the 
street.  A  Mormon  friend  of  the  author,  a  boy  at  the  time, 
pointed  out  to  me  the  spot  and  gave  me  the  details  as  he  re- 
ceived them  from  one  who  lighted  a  brazier  before  which  the 
two  victims  must  pass,  to  give  the  assassins  a  clear  aim.  The 
Mormon  authorities,  according  to  their  custom,  at  once  con- 
vened a  coroner's  jury,  which  decided  that  Brewer  and  Johnston 
had  quarrelled  and  killed  each  other ! 

This  assassination  may  be  considered  the  closing  act  of  the 
three  years  of  blood  and  terror,  which  began  in  1856.  During 
that  time  the  losses  are  roughly  estimated  as  follows: 

Died  in  the  hand-cart  companies  ....          300 

Murdered  during  the  "  Reformation "  .         .         .25 

Murdered  at  Mountain  Meadows  ....          132 

Murdered  during  Mormon  War 20 

Murdered  in  1858  and  1859 30 

U.  S.  teamster?,  etc.,  as  related 70 

Total  casualties 577 

Deducting  the  hand-cart  victims  and  the  U.  S.  teamsters  who 
died  of  exposure  and  Indians,  the  average  of  actual  crime  still 
remains  very  great.  The  record  of  this  period  ought  not  to 
close  without  some  notice  of  the  notorious  Bill  Hick  man.  He 
made  his  confession  directly  to  me  and  I  prepared  it  for  the 
press :  that  it  contains  much  truth  I  am  satisfied,  but  not  all 
the  truth  he  might  have  told.  Brigham  denounced  the  work 
savagely  when  published ;  but  it  is  worth  noting  that  he  had 
always  fellowshipped  Hickman  as  a  Mormon,  and  given  him 
honors  and  wives  till  the  latter  seceded  from  the  church. 

Other  noted  Danites  were  Ephe  Hanks  and  Porter  Rock- 
well :  these  three  seem  destined  to  an  immortality  of  infamy. 
Closely  associated  with  Hickman  for  many  years  was  one  Ike 
Hatch ;  but  at  length  he  grew  weary  of  his  mode  of  life,  and, 
confiding  in  Hickman,  announced  his  intention  to  escape  from 


AND   CRIMES   OF    MORMON  ISM.  193 

the  Territory.  Soon  after  Hickman  and  Hatch  started  from 
Salt  Lake  City  on  horseback  for  Provo.  While  crossing  a 
small  stream  on  the  road,  lined  with  a  thick  growth  of  willows, 
Hatch  who  was  in  advance  was  shot  from  behind,  and  fell  from 
his  horse.  Hickman  at  once  galloped  back  to  the  city  and  re- 
ported that  they  had  been  attacked  by  Indians,  and  Hatch 
killed.  The  latter,  however,  had  strength  to  climb  upon  his 
horse  and  reach  the  city  before  he  died,  and  informed  his  father 
that  he  had  been  shot  by  Hickman.  The  latter  had  the  hardi- 
hood to  attend  the  funeral  of  Hatch,  and  actually  assisted  in 
shoveling  the  dirt  into  the  grave.  While  in  this  work  the 
father  of  Hatch,  overcome  by  sudden  anger,  aimed  a  blow  at 
the  murderer  with  a  spade,  which  would  certainly  have  ended 
his  career  had  not  the  blow  been  warded  off  by  a  friend  of 
Hickman,  who  was  on  the  watch.  This  murder,  as  well  as 
several  others  by  Hickman,  is  not  even  questioned  among  the 
Mormons.  When  Hickraan  was  disfellowshipped  and  fled  to 
Nevada,  he  was  taken  violently  ill,  and  sent  for  a  Josephite 
Mormon  preacher  to  administer  absolution.  It  is  reported  that 
he  then  confessed  participation  in  no  less  than  forty-three  de- 
liberate murders! 

With  Johnston's  army  the  Gentile  merchants  came,  and  after 
a  while  established  themselves  in  Salt  Lake  City.  During  the 
interval  from  1853  to  1858,  the  Mormons  had  fallen  behind, 
and  great  destitution  often  prevailed,  particularly  in  the 
southern  settlements.  One  year  the  crops  were  short  from 
drought,  and  another  they  were  largely  destroyed  by  grass- 
hoppers ;  during  two  seasons  there  was  no  surplus  except  a 
little  wheat  which  could  only  be  sold  in  barter  for  fifty  cents 
per  bushel ;  one  winter  thousands  of  the  people  subsisted  largely 
upon  sego  roots,  and  another,  of  unusual  severity,  a  third  of  the 
cattle  throughout  Utah  died  from  exposure.  In  the  "  Refor- 
mation," the  Ward  Teachers  visited  every  family  in  their  juris- 
diction, and  made  a  thorough  examination  of  their  flour  barrels 
and  meat  chests,  taking  away  the  surplus,  where  there  was  any, 
to  divide  it  among  those  who  had  none.  In  the  summer  of 
1855,  M.  Jules  Remy,  French  traveller  and  savan,  and  Mr.  A. 
13 


194  POLYGAMY;   OR,   THE   MYSTERIES 

M.  Brenchley,  his  English  companion  and  botanist,  journeyed 
from  Sacramento  to  Salt  Lake  City,  by  the  Central  Nevada 
route  and  south  of  the  Lake,  and  spent  several  weeks  studying 
Mormon  institutions.  Their  publication  describes  a  condition 
of  extreme  poverty  in  Utah ;  provisions  of  all  sorts  were  at 
premium  prices,  and  their  tour  of  two  months,  with  the  poorest 
accommodations,  cost  them  more  in  gold  than  a  first-class  tour 
of  Europe  would  have  done.  Wheat  and  a  few  other  bare 
necessaries  alone  were  tolerably  cheap.  The  season  of  1856-57 
might  be  justly  denominated  the  "  Winter  of  Mormon  discon- 
tent." And  it  is  remarkable  that  during  those  two  years  were 
committed  most  of  those  crimes  which  form  so  black  a  chapter 
in  the  annals  of  Utah. 

The  entrance  of  Johnston's  army  proved  a  real  godsend  to 
many,  and  being  followed  by  a  season  of  unusual  fruitfulness, 
the  Mormons  were  again  rendered  prosperous.  The  firm  of 
Gilbert  &  Sons  was  established  in  Salt  Lake  City  about  that 
time,  though  one  of  the  firm  had  done  business  there  before. 
This  firm  made  large  profits  during  the  five  succeeding  years, 
their  sales  on  one  particular  day  amounting  to  $17,000  in  gold. 
Coin  was  the  only  currency,  all  large  payments  being  made  in 
the  Mormon  five-dollar  piece,  a  coin  struck  by  the  Church, 
which,  however,  contained  but  $4.30  in  gold.  Another  promi- 
nent firm  of  that  period  was  Ransohoff  &  Co.,  long  the  leading 
Jewish  firm,  who  built  the  first  stone  store-house  in  the  city. 
They  had  extensive  dealings  with  Brigham  Young,  and  when 
Johnston's  army  left  and  the  camp  property  was  sold,  Brigham 
borrowed  $30,000  of  Ransohoff  to  invest  in  army  pork.  Fol- 
lowing the  entrance  of  the  army  came  a  heavy  trade  with 
Nevada,  and  not  long  afterwards  considerable  with  Colorado ; 
and  at  this  period  was  the  rise  of  the  firm  of  Walker  Brothers, 
now  par  excellence,  the  Gentile  merchant  princes  of  Utah.  The 
Walkers,  four  young  and  middle-aged  gentlemen^  were  of  Mor- 
mon parentage  and  reared  among  the  Saints ;  having,  by  great 
industry  and  enterprise,  secured  a  small  stock  in  trade  before 
the  entrance  of  the  army.  The  stores  at  Camp  Floyd  were  sold 
when  the  troops  left,  early  in  1861.,  with  immense  profits  to  the 


AND    CRIMES   OF    MORMON  ISM.  195 

Saints ;  iron  which  had  retailed  at  a  dollar  per  pound  became 
as  plentiful  as  in  the  East,  and  Brigham  Young,  Walker 
Brothers,  and  other  firms  bought  immense  quantities  of  sup- 
plies, and  retailed  them  at  a  great  profit.  Thus  did  Buchanan 
"  crush  the  Mormons."  The  Overland  Mail  service  grew  into 
greatness,  furnishing  another  source  of  profit,  and  the  Gentile 
merchants  shared  largely  in  the  general  prosperity.  During 
1859  and  '60,  though  there  was  hostility  between  Camp  Floyd 
and  the  Mormon  hierarchy,  money  was  plenty ;  sufficient  sup- 
plies had  been  forwarded  to  last  the  army  ten  years,  and  great 
quantities  of  leather,  gearing,  cavalry  equipments,  clothing, 
blankets,  and  small  stores  were  sold  for  one-tenth  their  value; 
Brigham  was  on  the  best  of  terms  with  the  Gentile  merchants ; 
gifts  and  donations  on  both  sides  were  common ;  there  was  for 
a  time  little  or  no  social  distinction  between  Mormon  and  Gen- 
tile, and  an  era  of  general  good  feeling  prevailed. 

Meanwhile  Judge  Cradlebaugh,  as  aforesaid,  had  made 
inquiry  into  all  the  crimes  of  Southern  Utah,  and  found  the 
whole  community  united  in  opposition  to  the  law ;  had  applied 
to  Governor  Gumming  for  a  detachment  of  soldiers  to  aid  in 
enforcing  writs  and  had  been  refused,  and  had  abandoned  the 
Territory  in  disgust.  The  duty  of  investigating  those  affairs, 
especially  Mountain  Meadows,  lay  first  and  foremost  on  Gov- 
ernor Gumming,  and  he  assumed  a  terrible  responsibility  in  de- 
clining it.  He  had  quarreled  with  the  other  officials  and  put 
himself  in  the  hands  of  the  Mormons,  and  all  his  usefulness 
was  gone.  Government  soon  returned  to  the  old  policy :  Chief- 
Justice  Kinney  was  restored,  and  with  him  came  Associate 
Justices  Flenuiken  and  Crosby  in  place  of  Sinclair  and  Cradle- 
baugh. 

In  1861  Governor  Gumming  left  Utah,  and  was  succeeded 
by  John  W.  Dawson,  of  Indiana,  who  was  soon  entrapped  into 
"a  base  attempt  on  the  virtue  of  a  Mormon  woman,"  and  in 
consequence  of  many  threats  precipitately  fled  the  Territory. 
He  was  waylaid,  however,  in  Weber  Cafion,  and  received 
shocking  and  almost  emasculating  injuries  from  three  Mormon 
lads.  They  were  arrested  for  this,  and  attempting  to  escape  (as 


196  POLYGAMY. 

reported)  were  shot  dead  by  the  police.  This  method  of  getting 
rid  of  troublesome  citizens  was  practised  with  great  success  for 
some  years,  but  at  length  the  police  got  careless  and  shot  two 
men  in  jail,  without  waiting  for  them  to  get  outside,  and  tho 
method  had  to  be  changed.  All  this  time  the  Mormons 
remained  on  good  terms  with  the  merchants,  trade'was  free,  and 
the  people  rather  prosperous.  The  opening  of  the  war  signaled 
a  sudden  change;  the  disloyalty  of  the  Mormons  was  only 
equalled  by  the  disgust  of  the  Gentiles,  and  the  whole  gist  of 
Mormon  sermons  for  a  year  or  two  might  have  been  compressed 
into  that  aggravating  after-prophecy,  "  Didn't  we  tell  you  so  ?  '' 
With  them  it  was  only  the  realization  of  what  Joe  Smith  had 
prophesied  in  1832,  and  Sunday  after  Sunday  the  Tabernacle 
resounded  with  the  harangues  of  Brigharn  Young  and  Heber 
Kimball,  in  fiendish  exultation  over  the  prospect  that  "  the  war 
would  go  on  till  nearly  all  the  men,  North  and  South,  would  be 
killed,  the  rest  would  become  servants  to  the  Saints,  the  women 
of  the  United  States  would  come  begging  for  the  Mormon  elders 
to  marry  them,  and  a  general  cry  would  go  up,  'come  and  help 
u-  preserve  the  race  of  man  in  this  land.'  " 

Such  was  the  stuff  then  preached  by  men  who  are  now  prating 
loudly  of  their  loyalty.  It  was  hard  for  an  American  to  listen 
to  it  quietly,  and  but  little  else  was  heard  in  Salt  Lake  for  the 
first  two  years  of  the  war.  Early  in  1862  Judges  Flenniken 
and  Crosby  left  Salt  Lake.  President  Lincoln  was  advised  by 
telegraph  of  their  departure,  and  on  the  3d  of  February,  1862, 
appointed  Thomas  J.  Drake,  of  Michigan,  and  Chas.  V.  Waite, 
of  Illinois,  to  succeed  them.  On  the  31st  of  March  following, 
Stephen  S.  Harding,  an  "original  abolitionist,"  of  southern  In- 
diana, was  appointed  Governor,  and  the  new  officials  reached 
Salt  Lake  in  July  of  the  same  year.  In  October  following 
Colonel  (now  General)  P.  Edward  Connor  arrived  with  fifteen 
hundred  men  and  established  Camp  Douglas.  This  adminis- 
tration labored  hard  to  benefit  the  Gentiles  in  Utah.  For 
nearly  four  years  General  Connor  maintained  the  rights  of 
American  citizens,  and  protected  and  assisted  many  hundred 
dissenting  Mormons  in  their  escape  from  Utah.  The  prompt 


198  POLYGAMY;    OR,   THE    MYSTERIES 

action  in  protecting  American  citizens  and  recusant  Mormons 
from  injury,  together  with  the  anti-polygamy  features  of  Gov- 
ernor Harding's  first  message,  and  the  action  of  the  Judges  in 
asking  Congress  for  an  amendment  to  the  Organic  Act  of  the 
Territory,  excited  the  Brighamites  to  great  anger  for  a  time ; 
the  hostility  increased,  and  when  an  unusually  large  number  of 
miners  came  to  winter  in  Salt  Lake,  Brigham  assumed  entire 
control  of  Mormon  trade  and  flour  was  put  up  at  once  from  S3 
to  $6  per  hundred  in  gold,  then  equal  to  twice  that  amount  in 
currency.  Great  was  the  indignation  at  this  move,  but  the 
miners  could  not  help  themselves  at  that  season  and  submitted, 
though  their  curses  were  both  loud  and  deep.  The  opening  of 
spring  relieved  this  embargo,  and  the  Mormons  soon  discovered 
that  though  Camp  Douglas  was  something  of  an  eye-sore,  yet 
the  presence  of  two  regiments  added  materially  to  their  trade. 
The  triumph  of  the  Union  arms  through  1864,  the  prompt  pay- 
ment of  claims  against  the  Government,  and  the  appointment  of 
rather  more  acceptable  officials,  convinced  the  Mormons  that 
"  loyalty  would  pay  "  for  a  while,  and  another  era  of  free  trade 
and  tolerably  good  feeling  followed.  The  years  1864-65  were 
seasons  of  prosperity  to  the  Gentiles ;  Ransohoff  &  Co.  cleared 
large  sums  dealing  in  general  supplies,  and  Walker  Brothers, 
who  had  meanwhile  apostatized  from  Mormonism,  took  rank  as 
millionaires. 

July  2d,  1862,  Congress  passed  the  first  anti-polygamy  bill, 
which  excited  so  little  attention  that  I  doubt  if  there  are  a 
dozen  persons  in  Utah  who  have  read  it.  The  Republican 
party  in  its  first  national  platform  denounced  polygamy  as  a 
relic  of  barbarism  ;  but  on  attaining  power  followed  closely  in 
the  tracks  of  its  predecessor ;  and  though  twenty  years  nearly 
have  passed  since  the  act,  we  see  next  to  nothing  done  to  enforce 
it.  The  United  States  Government  is  not  of  a  nature  to  deal 
readily  with  social  and  religious  problems.  Governor  Harding, 
in  his  first  message  to  the  Utah  Legislature,  called  attention  to 
the  law  just  enacted,  and  urged  some  action  against  polygamy  ; 
the  priesthood  rejoined  with  a  series  of  gross  insults  to  the 
governor  and  flaming  sermons  on  the  war  prophecy.  And  per- 


AND   CRIMES   OF   MORMONISM.  199 

haps  this  is  as  good  a  place  as  any  to  present  this  remarkable 
prophecy,  given  December  25th,  1832,  in  which  all  good  Mor- 
mons trust  so  much : 

"  Verily  thus  saith  the  Lord,  concerning  the  wars  that  will 
shortly  come  to  pass,  beginning  at  the  rebellion  of  South  Caro- 
lina, which  will  eventually  terminate  in  the  death  and  misery 
of  many  souls.  The  days  will  come  that  war  will  be  poured 
out  upon  all  nations,  beginning  at  that  place ;  for  behold  the 
Southern  States  shall  be  divided  against  the  Northern  States, 
and  the  Southern  States  will  call  on  other  nations,  even  the  na- 
tion of  Great  Britain,  as  it  is  called,  and  they  shall  also  call  upon 
other  nations  in  order  to  defend  themselves  against  other 
nations ;  and  thus  war  shall  be  poured  out  upon  all  nations. 
And  it  shall  come  to  pass,  after  many  days,  slaves  shall  rise  up 
against  their  masters,  who  shall  be  marshalled  and  disciplined  for 
war.  And  it  shall  come  to  pass,  also,  that  the  remnants  who  are 
left  of  the  land  (Indians)  will  marshal  themselves,  and  shall  become 
exceeding  angry,  and  shall  vex  the  Gentiles  with  a  sore  vexa- 
tion ;  and  thus  with  the  sword,  and  by  bloodshed,  the  inhabi- 
tants of  the  earth  shall  mourn  ;  and  with  famine  and  plague  and 
earthquakes,  and  the  thunder  of  heaven  and  the  fierce  and  vivid 
lightning  also,  shall  the  inhabitants  of  the  earth  be  made  to  feel 
the  wrath  and  indignation  and  chastening  hand  of  an  Almighty 
God,  until  the  consummation  decreed  hath  made  a  full  end  of 
all  nations ;  that  the  cry  of  the  Saints,  and  of  the  blood  of  the 
Saints,  shall  cease  to  come  up  into  the  ears  of  the  Lord  of 
Sabaoth,  from  the  earth,  to  be  avenged  of  their  enemies. 
Wherefore  stand  ye  in  holy  places,  and  be  not  moved,  until  the 
day  of  the  Lord  come ;  for  behold  it  cometh  quickly,  saith  the 
Lord.  Amen." 

At  a  conference  held  in  Nauvoo,  April  6th,  1843 — the 
year  preceding  the  Prophet's  death — he  reiterated  the  pre- 
diction : 

"  I  prophesy  in  the  name  of  the  Lord  God,  that  the  com- 
mencement of  the  difficulties  which  will  cause  much  bloodshed, 
previous  to  the  coming  of  the  Son  of  Man,  will  be  in  South 
Carolina  (it  probably  may  arise  through  the  slave  question) ; 


200  POLYGAMY;    OR,    THE    MYSTERIES 

this  a  voice  declared  to  me,  while  I  was  praying  earnestly  on 
the  subject,  December  25th,  1832." 

It  would  be  difficult  to  find  in  the  sacred  books  of  any  nation 
a  prophecy  so  nearly  and  unmistakably  fulfilled  as  this.  All 
prophecy,  as  a  rule,  requires  a  great  deal  of  helping  and  piecing 
out  with  explanation  as  to  what  part  is  local  and  what  is  gen- 
eral ;  and  more  than  one  commentator  has  found  the  Hebrew 
prophets  vague,  ambiguous  and  indefinite  as  to  time  and  place 
when  he  would  gladly  have  found  a  specific  application  to  his 
own  sect  or  its  enemies.  But  Joseph  Smith's  prophecy  on  the 
war  is  singularly  explicit.  Half  of  it  has  been  fulfilled,  and 
the  Saints  are  confidently  waiting  on  the  other  half.  It  is  a 
law  of  mind  that  what  we  prophesy  often  we  soon  come  to  wish 
for ;  and  if  there  were  no  other  cause,  the  tendency  of  all  their 
preaching  and  prophesying  is  to  make  them  look  eagerly  for  the 
downfall  of  our  Government.  It  is  a  prime  principle  in  their 
creed  that  all  mankind  but  themselves  are  on  the  swift  road  to 
ruin,  and  they  are  never  so  well  pleased  as  in  listening  to  state- 
ments in  regard  to  "  the  great  increase  of  crime  and  immorality 
in  the  States." 

Never  were  any  people  so  confounded  as  the  Mormons  when 
the  war  for  the  Union  ended  so  suddenly  and  gloriously.  The 
Sunday  before  Lee's  surrender  Brigham  preached  on  the  revela- 
tion published  above,  and  predicted  that  the  war  would  last  four 
years  longer.  He  afterwards  explained  that  he  meant  there 
would  be  four  years  of  wrangling  before  the  terms  of  peace  were 
settled.  The  assassination  of  Lincoln  followed,  and  the  Saints 
were  again  confident  that  war  would  continue  and  anarchy 
result.  They  had  no  rejoicings  for  the  Union  victories  and  no 
grief  for  Lincoln's  death — he  had  signed  the  anti-polygamy  bill 
and  sustained  General  Connor — but  Miss  Sarah  E.  Carmichael 
gave  voice  to  the  sorrows  of  the  few  loyal  people  in  Utah  in  a 
poem  of  singular  beauty  and  affecting  sweetness.  Secretary 
Wooton  had  acted  as  governor  between  the  departure  of  Gov- 
ernor Gumming  and  arrival  of  Governor  Dawson,  but  did 
nothing  to  arouse  the  animosity  of  the  Saints.  He  was  suc- 
ceeded as  Secretary  by  Frank  Fuller,  of  New  Hampshire,  whose 


AND    CRIMES   OF    MORMON  ISM.  201 

brief  administration  as  governor  and  secretary  was  disgraced 
by  the  Morrisite  massacre,  of  which  a  full  history  will  be  given 
in  the  chapter  on  dissenting  sects. 

Governor  Harding  was  transferred  to  Colorado  and  made 
Chief- Justice  of  that  Territory  in  May,  1863,  being  succeeded 
as  Governor  of  Utah  by  James  Duane  Doty,  who  had  been 
Superintendent  of  Indian  Affairs.  Judge  Waite  resigned  in 
disgust  in  1866,  and,  after  a  brief  residence  in  Idaho,  returned 
to  Chicago,  where  he  has  attained  to  some  eminence  as  a  writer. 
He  was  succeeded  by  Judge  John  Titus,  whose  eventful  experi- 
ence will  in  due  time  be  related.  Judge  Drake  held  on  till  the 
accession  of  Grant,  and  retired  with  the  complimentary  hatred 
of  every  orthodox  Mormon.  In  1863  Dr.  Fuller  was  succeeded 
as  Secretary  by  Amos  Reed,  Esq.,  and  he  in  no  long  time  by 
Edward  P.  Higgins,  of  Michigan.  Neither  had  any  oppor- 
tunity to  do  anything.  It  was  an  era  of  retrogression,  and 
they  were  powerless.  From  the  departure  of  the  Camp  Floyd 
troops  till  the  arrival  of  Connor  with  the  California  Volunteers, 
the  church  was  absolute,  and  ruled  Utah  with  an  iron  hand. 
During  General  Connor's  rule  the  two  parties  were  again  and 
again  on  the  eve  of  a  collision.  At  one  time  the  grand  jury 
presented  Camp  Douglas  as  a  "nuisance,"  and  Brigham  ordered 
Mayor  Smoot  to  "  move  Connor  and  his  men  ! "  The  mayor 
made  answer  that  it  would  require  5,000  men,  and  that  he 
could  raise  them.  Brigham  took  the  second  thought  and  re- 
voked the  order.  On  one  occasion  all  the  Mormons  in  the  city 
were  called  to  arms  to  defend  Brigham,  who  thought  the  Gen- 
eral was  about  to  arrest  him.  Again  the  house  of  every  faith- 
ful Saint  was  prepared  for  destruction,  kindling  materials  being 
arranged  for  a  general  conflagration ;  but  there  was  no  design 
to  arrest  Brigham,  and  the  scare  subsided. 

The  war  ended  and  the  preaching  at  the  Tabernacle  became 
more  conservative.  General  Connor  had  established  the  Vidette 
as  a  loyal  paper — first  in  camp,  and  then  in  the  city  under  a 
military  guard.  The  guard  was  now  withdrawn  and  proposals 
for  peace  made.  Mormon  and  Gentile  united  in  a  patriotic 
display,  and  all  seemed  lovely.  But,  as  too  often  happens  with 


-02  POLYGAMY;    OR,   THE   MYSTERIES 

peacemakers,  the  high  contracting  parties  went  too  far.  A 
grand  ball  was  arranged,  to  be  given  by  the  Mormon  officials, 
in  honor  of  General  Connor,  who  was  about  leaving  to  take 
command  of  the  Department  of  the  Platte.  The  ladies  at 
Camp  Douglas  quietly  resolved  that  they  would  not  recognize 
polygamous  wives,  and  stayed  away.  Brigham's  wives  got  a 
hint  of  this,  and  gave  notice  that  th,ey  "  would  not  associate 
with  Gentile  prostitutes  on  any  terms."  The  gentlemen  on 
both  sides  were  present  in  style,  but  of  women  only  those  of  low 
social  standing.  "Reconciliation"  was  a  total  failure,  and  the 
ill  feeling  worse  than  ever.  Vain,  vain  is  the  task  of  those  who 
labor  to  harmonize  Democracy  and  Theocracy. 

Two  months  later  came  Vice-President  (then  Speaker)  Col- 
fax,  Governor  Bross,  of  Illinois,  Hon.  Samuel  Bowles,  of  the 
Springfield  Republican,  and  Albert  D.  Richardson,  the  well- 
known  author  and  correspondent,  on  their  celebrated  trip 
through  the  far  West.  They  appear  to  have  been  the  first 
visitors  to  Utah  who  expressed  their  opinions  openly  and  freely 
on  all  proper  occasions,  and  were  not  a  whit  deceived  by  the 
blandishments  of  the  Mormon  leaders.  In  many  interviews 
they  told  Brigham  and  other  Mormons  that  they  might  expect 
the  continued  disapproval  of  the  government  as  long  as  they 
practised  polygamy,  to  which  Mr.  Colfax  rather  incautiously 
added  that  there  was  no  other  objection  to  the  admission  of  Utah 
as  a  State. 

Brigham  then  put  the  direct  question :  "  If  we  could  or 
should  surrender  polygamy,  would  not  your  people  then  go  on 
and  insist  on  our  giving  up  our  form  of  church  government  and 
•many  other  things?" 

Mr.  Colfax  warmly  assured  him  they  would  not;  that  no 
other  demand  would  be  made  than  the  abandonment  of  poly- 
gamy. He  could  not  know,  of  course,  that  the  Saints  had  in 
reserve  a  revelation  for  just  such  a  contingency.  They  have 
one  which  exactly  fits  the  case,  and  in  due  time  began  that 
curious  intrigue  for  the  admission  of  the  "State  of  Deseret 
with  a  constitution  prohibiting  polygamy,"  which  came  to  i\ 
head  in  1872,  and  came  very  near  being  a  success.  The  official 


AND   CRIMES   OF   MORMONISM.  203 

visitors  passed  on,  Andrew  Johnson  withdrew  the  troops  from 
Utah  and  declared  in  favor  of  an  extremely  conciliatory  policy; 
various  Mormons  were  appointed  to  important  offices,  the  Saints 
waxed  fat,  and  in  no  long  time  a  new  series  of  shocking  murders 
and  outrages  occurred.  All  the  Gentiles  who  had  pre-empted 
land  west  of  the  city  were  whipped,  ducked  in  the  Jordan,  or 
tarred  and  feathered,  and  their  improvements  destroyed ;  many 
were  threatened  and  ordered  out  of  the  country;  Weston,  of  the 
Union  Vidette,  was  seized  at  night,  taken  to  Temple  Block  and 
cruelly  beaten;  Brassfield  was  shot,  Dr.  Robinson  assassinated, 
and  general  consternation  seized  upon  the  Gentile  residents. 

Squire  Newton  Brassfield,  while  sojourning  temporarily  in 
Salt  Lake  City,  formed  the  acquaintance  of  a  woman  who  had 
been  the  polygamous  wife  of  a  Mormon  named  Hill,  but  had 
left  him,  repudiated  this  so-called  marriage  and  claimed  that 
she  was  entitled  at  common  law  to  the  possession  of  her  chil- 
dren by  this  Hill,  as  the  offspring  of  an  illegal  marriage,  or 
rather  of  no  marriage  at  all.  She  and  Brassfield  were  married 
in  legal  form  by  the  United  States  Judge,  H.  P.  McCurdy,  on 
the  28th  of  March,  1866;  a  writ  of  habeas  corpus  was  issued 
from  the  United  States  Court  for  the  possession  of  her  children, 
and  the  trial  set  for  the  night  of  April  3d,  but  adjourned  till 
the  6th.  Meanwhile  Brassfield  had  taken  a  trunk  containing 
her  clothing  from  -her  former  residence,  and  was  arrested  by 
the  Mormon  authorities  on  a  charge  of  grand  larceny !  The 
ground  assumed  for  this  action  was  that  tlie  clothing  taken  was 
the  property  of  her  husband.  While  walking  the  street  in 
charge  of  United  States  Marshal  J.  K.  Hosmer,  Brassfield  was 
shot  in  the  back  by  a  concealed  assassin.  The  Mormons  ap- 
proved the  deed  and  ridiculed  all  attempts  to  capture  the  mur- 
derer. Judge  McCurdy  telegraphed  for  protection,  and  the 
President  allowed  a  few  soldiers  to  remain. 

Dr.  J.  K.  Robinson  had  married  a  Mormon  lady,  had  been 
active  in  all  movements  to  liberalize  the  Territory,  had  pre- 
empted land  where  the  Warm  Springs  are  located,  and  proposed 
to  contest  the  legal  title  of  the  city.  The  first  decision,  by 
Judge  Titus,  was  for  the  city;  and  the  doctor  appealed. 


204  POLYGAMY;    OR,   THE    MYSTERIES 

Meanwhile  his  ball  alley  was  destroyed  by  the  police;  he 
brought  suit  and  had  three  policemen  bound  over  to  the  Dis- 
trict Court.  Soon  after,  about  midnight,  the  doctor  was  called 
out  to  attend  a  patient,  and,  at  the  corner  of  Main  and  Third 
South  streets,  he  was  struck  two  blows  on  the  head,  and  imme- 
diately shot  through  the  brain.  One  witness  saw  one  of  the 
assassins  running  down  the  street  westward ;  two  others  saw 
three  of  them  running  eastward,  and  three  were  seen  running 
southward,  making  seven  persons  engaged  in  ihz  murder.  On 
the  investigation  Mayor  Wells  swore  that  he  was  not  informed 
of  the  murder  till  10  o'clock  the  day  after;  the  policemen  swore 
there  were  but  eight  of  them  on  duty  that  night,  of  whom  three 
were  at  the  circus,  and  all  the  rest  at  the  City  Hall ;  the  Mor- 
mons examined  swore  there  had  been  no  threats  made,  and 
others  refused  to  answer.  The  weight  of  opinion  is  that  it  was 
only  intended  to  give  Dr.  Robinson  a  severe  beating;  that  he 
resisted,  recognized  his  assailants,  and  was  killed  to  avoid 
detection. 

Soon  after  three  apostates  were  arrested  at  Coalville,  and  two 
shot  dead  in  custody :  one  a  brother  of  the  Potter  who  figured 
in  the  Springville  murders,  the  other  a  man  of  no  great  charac- 
ter, named  Wilson.  One  Walker  was  fired  at,  but  escaped, 
reached  the  city  and  gave  the  particulars.  Walker  kept  quite 
close  for  a  while,  but  finally  ventured  into  the  country,  disap- 
peared, and  was  never  more  heard  of.  About  the  same  time, 
Negro  Tom,  who  had  been  brought  to  the  Territory  a  slave,  was 
killed  and  his  throat  cut — for  adultery  with  a  white  woman, 
according  to  Mormon  testimony.  This  closes  the  list  of  known. 
murders  for  that  year,  it  being  a  time  of  comparative  quiet. 
The  Mormons  vehemently  assert  that  these  four  victims  were 
desperately  bad  men,  who  could  not  be  reached  by  regular  legal 
process ;  and  this  may  be  true,  but  I  know  of  no  people  so  re- 
luctant to  admit  that  excuse  for  outrages  committed  against 
any  of  themselves. 

A  general  stampede  of  Gentiles  from  Utah  seemed  likely  to 
follow  the  withdrawal  of  all  protection  by  the  Government;  and 
soon  after  Robinson's  death,  the  Gentile  merchants,  with  two  or 


AND   CRIMES   OF   MORMONISM.  205 

three  exceptions,  joined  in  a  written  proposal  to  Brigham,  that 
they  would  all  leave  the  Territory,  if  he  or  the  Church  would 
pay  a  nominal  price  for  their  property.  To  this  Brigham  com- 
placently made  reply  that  he  "  had  not  asked  them  to  come,  and 
did  not  ask  them  to  go;  they  could  stay  as  long  as  they 
pleased."  This  excitement  subsided  like  the  rest,  and  a  whole 
year  passed  away  without  any  serious  outrages,  or  unusual 
threats.  The  influence  of  the  approaching  railroad  began  to  be 
felt,  and  the  Washington  authorities  every  day  grew  more  com- 
plaisant to  the  Saints.  President  Johnson  appointed  Mr.  Hoge, 
a  Mormon  lawyer,  as  Associate  Justice,  Captain  Burton,  Mor- 
mon bishop,  Collector  of  Internal  Revenue,  and  generally  fixed 
things  to  suit  the  Saints.  He  also  appointed  Hon.  Charles 
Durkee  governor,  to  succeed  Doty,  deceased;  denied  him  all 
power  to  do  anything,  and  carefully  instructed  him  not  to  irri- 
tate anybody.  I  think  the  only  time  I  ever  laughed  right  in  an 
official's  face  was  when  Governor  Durkee  seriously  outlined  his 
"  policy  "  to  me.  He  evidently  thought  he  had  one ;  and  it  was 
a  great  comfort  to  the  old  gentleman. 

All  through  1868  the  amount  of  travel  increased,  and  with  it 
the  amount  of  money ;  trade  was  free,  with  no  distinction  be- 
tween Mormon  and  Gentile;  contracts  oil  the  railroad  were 
taken  by  both,  and  little  distinction  made  in  giving  employment, 
and  in  July,  1868,  at  a  great  railroad  meeting,  Mormon,  Jew 
and  Christian  fraternized  in  the  Tabernacle,  and  seemed  to  feel 
they  had  a  common  interest  in  the  country's  prosperity. 

And  thus  stood  affairs  in  the  early  autumn  of  1868,  when  the 
author  first  entered  the  Territory. 


206  POLYGAMY. 


CHAPTER  XII. 

MY   FIRST   YEAIi    IN    UTAH. 

First  impressions — The  Holy  City — Topography — Mormon  leaders — Travels 
in  Utah — "  Pulling  hair  " — Beastly  cases  of  polygamy — Mormon  conference 
— Votes  non-intercourse  with  Gentile? — A  dreary  winter— Corinne — The 
Sevier  mines — The  author  mobbed — Sent  to  Washington— Signs  of  a  better 
day. 

THE  first  storm  of  autumn  had  just  dressed  the  summit.-  of 
the  Wasatch  in  dazzling  white  when,  on  the  10th  of  September, 
1868,  the  train  in  which  I  was  a  driver  entered  the  city.  My 
first  impression  was :  a  marvellously  beautiful  location,  an 
average  city  and  a  singularly  uninteresting  people.  The  city  is 
at  the  northeast  corner  of  a  grand  amphitheater — a  valley 
shaped  like  a  horse-shoe,  with  the  open  end  to  the  northwest, 
and  the  city  at  the  point  of  the  heel  on  the  east  side.  From  this 
heel,  really  a  spur  of  the  Wasatch,  City  Creek  runs  out  and  ir- 
rigates nearly  all  the  city  plat ;  eastward  the  mountain  recedes 
to  a  distance  of  six  or  seven  miles,  then  bears  southward,  then 
westward  to  the  cafion  of  the  Jordan,  and  west  of  that  the  de- 
tached Oquirrh  comes  north  again  to  the  south  end  of  the  lake. 
Down  the  centre  of  the  oval  valley  runs  the  Jordan,  its  course 
a  little  west  of  north  ;  along  it  is  a  narrow  strip  of  fertility,  and 
little  oases  border  the  streams  which  flow  into  it.  All  the  rest 
is  comparatively  barren  hench  or  sage-brush  plat,  only  valua- 
ble here  and  there  for  a  little  grass. 

At  least  nine-tenths  of  the  houses  in  the  city  then  were  adobe, 
and  not  one  in  five  of  these  plastered  or  stuccoed ;  the  whole  city 
contained  but  one  dozen  solid,  impressive-looking  structures  of 
stone  and  brick,  and  not  one  of  any  architectural  beauty.  And 
the  people  at  first  view  seemed  wonderfully  plain,  especially  the 
women — Dot  ugly-looking,  or  degraded,  or  deformed,  but  sim- 


207 


208  POLYGAMY  ;    OR,    THE    MYSTERIES 

ply  and  hopelessly  homely.  I  had  heard  that  they  were  fana- 
tics, and  I  laughed  at  the  thought ;  for  of  all  people  I  ever  saw 
they  seemed  the  least  emotional,  the  least  excitable.  There 
were  not  over  five  hundred  Gentiles  in  the  city,  and  perhaps  as 
many  more  scattered  through  the  Territory ;  and  I  soon  learned 
to  recognize  them  at  sight.  The  Mormons  had  that  sameness 
of  look  which  seems  to  characterize  the  people  of  all  exclusive 
religious  societies ;  even  the  children  tended  to  one  type — long, 
slender,  with  towy  hair  and  watery  blue  eyes.  They  were 
thoroughly  homogeneous.  -But  the  Gentiles  were  doubtless  the 
most  heterogeneous  class  in  America:  representing  all  States 
and  nearly  all  nations,  they  presented  every  variety  of  form  and 
complexion.  They  consisted  of  United  States  officials  and  their 
employes,  attaches  of  the  Overland  Stage  Company  and  the  rail- 
road then  in  construction,  some  Jewish  merchants,  a  few  arti- 
sans, and  a  miscellaneous  mass  of  traders,  mining  prospectors 
and  adventurers.  They  were  absolutely  without  any  common 
purpose,  had  no  organization  except  as  one  church  and  a  few 
lodges  and  chapters  threw  some  of  them  into  groups,  had  no 
common  interest,  and  certainly  no  missionizing  tendencies,  and 
were  tolerated  by  the  Mormons  with  a  sort  of  quiet  contempt. 
But  a  change  in  this  respect  was  not  far  distant. 

But  the  novel  situation  and  the  charms  of  the  autumnal  cli- 
mate made  me  forget  all  else  for  a  while :  the  rows  of  trees  lin- 
ing all  the  streets,  and  the  crystal  streams  of  water  which  seem 
in  the  distance  like  threads  of  silver,  combining  to  give  a  strange 
and  fanciful  beauty  to  the  scene.  Salt  Lake  City  is  situated  in 
latitude  40°  46'  north,  and  longitude  111°  53'  west  of  Green- 
wich, nearly  4,300  feet  above  sea  level.  The  streets  are  at  ex- 
act right  angles,  running  with  the  cardinal  points  and  numbered 
every  way  from  Temple  Block,  which  is  in  Utah  the  starting 
point  of  all  measurements,  calculations  and  principles,  whether 
of  ecclesiastical,  civil,  political  or  engineering. 

The  street  bounding  it  on  the  east  is  called  East  Temple 
street,  the  next  one  First  East  Temple,  or  merely  First  East, 
the  next  Second  East,  and  thus  on ;  the  same  nomenclature  is 
maintained  in  all  the  streets,  north,  south  and  west.  Each 


AND   CRIMES   OF   MORMOXISM.  209 

street  is  forty-four  yards  in  width,  with  sixteen  feet  pavements, 
leaving  one  hundred  feet  clear,  and  each  block  exactly  a  furlong 
square,  containing  ten  acres,  divided  into  eight  lots  of  an  acre 
and  a  quarter  each.  Nine  squares  are  included  in  each  ward, 
and  there  are  twenty-one  wards,  beginning  with  the  First  on  the 
southeast  corner  and  reckoned  westward  to  the  Fifth,  then  back- 
ward and  forward,  boustrophedon,  terminating  with  the  Twenty- 
first  on  the  northwest.  The  outer  wards,  however,  contain 
large  additional  tracts  extending  the  jurisdiction  of  the  city 
over  wide  limits.  The  greatest  length  of  the  city  proper  is 
thus,  from  southeast  to  northwest,  about  four  miles,  and  it*s 
greatest  width,  from  northeast  to  southwest,  a  little  over  two 
miles.  But  a  small  portion,  however,  of  this  large  area  is 
thickly  settled;  in  two-thirds  of  the  city  the  scattered  dwellings 
are  mingled  with  orchards,  gardens,  small  pastures  or  grass- 
plats,  and  even  small  wheat  and  cornfields,  like  a  thickly  settled 
farming  country  or  nursery  ground,  rather  than  a  city ;  and  to 
this  fact  the  place  is  indebted  for  no  small  share  of  its  beauty. 

The  western  part  of  the  city  extends  to  the  Jordan,  and  the 
ground  in  that  vicinity  is  rather  low  and  in  winter  and  spring 
marshy;  hence  the  finest  residences  are  north  and  east,  and  all 
the  public  buildings  above  Third  South  Street.  Let  us  note  a 
few  of  them,  beginning,  by  invariable  custom,  at  Temple  Block, 
which  includes  the  usual  ten  acres,  containing  the  old  and  new 
Tabernacles,  the  Endowment  (locally  known  as  Ondooment) 
House,  and  the  great  Temple  which  is  to  be.  The  old  Taber- 
nacle is  a  sort  of  nondescript  building,  oblong  in  shape,  with  a 
third  of  the  room  underground,  in  the  southwest  corner  of  the 
block,  capable  of  holding  some  2,500  persons.  The  new  Taber- 
nacle is,  in  its  way,  a  curiosity ;  there  is  certainly  no  idolatry  in 
the  reverence  paid  to  it,  for  it  is  like  nothing  else  in  the  heavens 
above,  or  the  earth  beneath,  or  probably  the  waters  under  the 
earth.  At  first  sight  the  prevailing  feeling  is  one  of  astonish- 
ment, which  soon  yields  to  curiosity  as  to  who  could  have  de- 
signed it.  It  is  built  in  the  form  of  a  complete  oval,  the  major 
axis  of  which  is  250  feet  in  length  and  the  minor  axis  150  feet. 
The  lower  part,  or  foundation  for  the  dome,  consists  of  a  suc- 
14 


210  POLYGAMY. 

cession  of  forty-six  pillars  of  red  cut  sand-stone,  each  about  six 
feet  square  and  ten  feet  high,  all  around  the  building ;  along 
the  sides  there  are  double  doors  between  the  pillars,  and  at  the 
ends  a  heavy  partition ;  on  this  structure  the  dome  or  roof  rests 
like  the  half  of  an  egg-shell.  The  latter  is  a  vast  frame-work, 
plastered  within  and  shingled  without,  raised  along  the  centre 
sixty-five  feet  above  the  floor.  There  is  not  a  trace  of  tlu« 
beautiful  or  impressive  about  it;  it  is  simply  a  vast  pile  awk- 
wardly put  together,  and  with  twice  the  outlay  of  stone  and 
mortar  that  would  have  sufficed  to  provide  the  same  room  and 
accommodations  in  some  other  shape.  As  the  grand  worship- 
ping hall  of  the  Saints  it  is  a  curiosity ;  as  a  work  of  art  a. 
monstrosity.  The  Endowment  House,  where  the  secret  rites 
of  Mormouism  are  performed,  is  an  unpretentious  adobe  build- 
ing in  the  northwest  corner  of  the  lot.  I  cannot  describe  its 
interior,  for  the  profane  Gentile  may.  not  enter  therein.  But  if 
the  testimony  of  numerous  witnesses  may  be  believed,  it  is 
fitted  up  with  various  rooms,  curtains,  stages  and  scenery,  for 
the  performance  of  a  grand  drama,  representing  the  creation, 
fall  of  man,  coming  of  a  redeemer,  great  apostasy  and  final 
restoration  of  the  true  priesthood  through  Joseph  Smith. 

The  eastern  half  of  Temple  Block,  fenced  off  from  the  west- 
ern, contains  only  the  beginning  of  the  Temple,  which  is  to  be 
finished  in  great  splendor  just  before  the  Saints  return  to  Jack- 
son county,  Missouri.  Ground  was  first  broken  for  the  work 
in  February,  1853,  with  imposing  ceremonies;  in  the  fifteen 
years  that  had  since  elapsed,  the  edifice  had  reached  a  level 
with  the  ground,  from  which,  those  familiar  with  the  rule  of 
three,  estimated  that  the  building  would  be  finished  in  two  cen- 
turies. But  tithings  and  donations  for  it  have  been  industri- 
ously collected  all  these  years;  it  is  now  up  to  the  second  story, 
and  the  more  sanguine  think  it  will  be  completed  in  time  to 
serve  as  a  capitol  for  the  new  Gentile  State  which  is,  perhaps, 
to  rise  on  the  ruins  of  Mormon  Utah. 

The  foundation  is  unsurpassed  in  strength  and  finish ;  of  the 
finest  mountain  granite  of  a  bright  gray  or  white,  slightly 
flecked  with  blue;  a  building  of  such  material  would  indeed 


(211) 


212  POLYGAMY;    OR,   THE   MYSTERIES 

outlast  the  anticipated  thousand  years  of  Millennial  reign. 
But  work  on  it  was  slow,  or  rather  suspended  ;  the  stone  is  very 
hard,  and  must  be  brought  some  twenty  miles  from  the  moun- 
tains, and  only  at  rare  intervals  a  workman  or  two  were  seen 
pecking  away  at  one  of  the  huge  masses  which  are  scattered 
around  by  the  ton.  The  entire  square  is  surrounded  by  a  wall, 
the  base  of  stone  and  the  upper  part  of  adobes,  and  plastered, 
twelve  feet  high,  with  square  turrets  about  every  ten  feet,  and 
a  massive  gateway  under  stone  arches  at  the  centre  of  each  of 
the  four  sides.  Crossing  East  Temple  Street  we  reach  the 
Prophet's  Block,  two  squares  of  ten  acres  each,  the  western  con- 
taining the  Deseret  Store,  the  office  of  the  Deseret  News,  official 
organ  of  the  church,  the  Tithing  House  and  yard,  the  Lion 
House,  Bee-Hive  House,  offices  and  other  buildings  pertaining 
to  the  Prophet,  Priest,  Seer,  Revelator,  in  all  the  world,  Grand 
Archee,  First  President  and  Trustee-in-trust  of  the  Church  of 
Jesus  Christ  of  Latter-day  Saints,  all  which  titles,  with  the 
honors,  powers  and  endowments  thereunto  belonging,  were 
enjoyed  by  Brigham  Young. 

The  Lion  House  is  an  oblong  building  of  three  stories,  plain 
in  style,  but  quite  substantially  built  and  well  finished.  Its 
<*ost  is  reported  everywhere  from  thirty  to  seventy  thousand 
dollars.  In  the  States  it  could  have  been  built  for  less  than 
the  former  sum.  Over  the  pillared  portico  in  front  is  a  stone 
lion,  a  sad  misapplication  of  the  emblem,  by  the  way,  as  that 
royal  brute  is  ever  content  with  one  mate.  The  bull  would 
have  been  more  appropriate,  but  that  is  a  matter  of  taste.  The 
Bee-Hive  House,  a  large  square  building  just  east  of  the  former, 
is  surmounted  by  a  stone  carving  in  imitation  of  a  bee-hive. 
The  entire  area  is  surrounded  by  a  wall  eleven  feet  high  of 
boulders  and  cobble-stones  laid  in  mortar,  with  semi-circular 
buttresses  at  equal  distances.  The  eastern  half  of  the  enclosure 
contains  various  buildings  of  no  special  interest.  Between  the 
two  lots  is  the  main  entrance  to  City  Creek  Canon,  which  was 
"  granted  v  to  Brigham  Young  by  the  first  Territorial  Legisla- 
ture; the  entrance  is  by  a  massive  stone  gateway  under  an  arch, 
upon  which  is  perched  an  immense  eagle,  carved  by  a  Mormon 


AND   CRIMES   OF   MORMONISM.  213 

artist  out  of  native  wood — another  perversion  of  a  sacred  em- 
blem, the  royal  bird  being,  like  his  brute  compeer,  a  strict 
monogamist. 

Just  north  of  Brigham's  grounds,  on  the  first  "  bench,"  is  the 
block  owned  by  the  late  Heber  C.  Kimball,  containing  one 
superior  mansion  and  a  number  of  smaller  dwellings,  in  which 
eleven  of  the  Widows  Kimball  then  resided.  The  other  seven 
lived  in  various  parts  of  the  city,  with  the  families  to  which 
they  belonged.  Some  dozen  or  more  of  Brigham's  wives  re- 
sided in  the  Lion  House  and  Bee-Hive  House ;  the  others  in 
different  parts  of  the  city,  or  on  his  farms  in  the  country. 

From  the  canon  back  of  Brigham's  grounds  issues  City 
Creek,  which  is  there,  by  dams,  diverted  from  its  channel  and 
carried  along  the  upper  part  of  the  city  in  a  main  canal,  from 
which  side  ditches  convey  the  streams  down  both  sides  of  every 
street,  furnishing  irrigation  to  the  gardens,  and  pure  water,  in 
the  upper  part  of  the  city,  for  all  other  purposes.  Lower  down, 
the  loose  black  soil  and  the  wash  of  the  streets  render  the  water 
rather  impure,  though  it  is  used,  and  during  the  season  when 
irrigation  is  not  in  progress,  is  still  tolerably  clear.  Next  to 
Temple  Block  and  Brigham's,  the  Theatre  is  the  institution  of 
Salt  Lake  City.  It  stands  one  square  south  of  Brigham's 
grounds,  at  the  corner  of  First  South  and  First  East  streets;  is 
built  of  brick  and  rough  stone,  covered  with  stucco  in  front, 
and  its  cost  is  variously  estimated  from  seventy  to  two  hundred 
thousand  dollars.  It  was  built  while  railroads  were  yet  a 
thousand  miles  distant,  probably  doubling  its  cost.  It  will 
comfortably  seat  two  thousand  persons,  and  can  be  packed  with 
a  few  hundred  more;  the  proscenium  is  sixty  feet  deep,  and  the 
furnishings  all  of  the  best  class. 

Formerly  the  playing  was  done  entirely  by  amateurs,  under 
the  training  of  old  London  professionals  turned  Mormons; 
then  they  played  only  on  alternate  nights,  rehearsing  one  night 
and  playing  the  next,  pursuing  their  ordinary  calling  by  day. 
But  after  1864  there  were  professional  players  among  the  Mor- 
mons, receiving  a  regular  salary  and  assisted  by  "  stars  "  from 
abroad.  .  The  parquet  was,  when  I  reached  Utah,  occupied  only 


214  POLYGAMY;   OR,   THE   MYSTERIES 

by  Mormons  and  their  families ;  for  a  Gentile  to  be  seen  there 
was  apt  to  create  a  suspicion  of  "  Jack-Mormon "  tendencies. 
The  resident  Gentiles  and  visitors  occupied  the  first  or  dress  cir- 
cle, while  the  second  and  third  circles  were  given  up  to  miners, 
transients  and  boys,  and  even  Indians  in  the  last.  Brigham 
had  a  royal  box,  so  called,  which  he  then  often  occupied  with 
his  favorite  Amelia,  and  sometimes  one  or  two  other  wives. 
But  when  things  grew  more  exciting  Brigham  abandoned  the 
theatre  except  on  rare  occasions;  then  his  box  was  often  filled 
by  his  most  dashing  daughters  and  their  "  hickory  Mormon," 
or  even  Gentile,  attendants ;  and  was  often  the  scene  of  great 
hilarity. 

Next  in  interest  to  the  theatre  among  public  buildings  are 
Social  Hall,  the  Seventies'  Hall  and  the  court-house.  The  last 
named  is  built  entirely  of  adobes,  but  stuccoed  with  exquisite 
finish  and  in  perfect  imitation  of  variegated  granite,  making  a 
building  of  fine  and  imposing  appearance.  On  Main — East 
Temple — Street,  the  business  houses  are  all  included  within  two 
blocks ;  among  them,  the  stone  storehouse  of  Ransoholf  &  Co., 
the  drug  store  of  God  be  &  Co.,  the  large  building  of  Walker 
Brothers,  and  Masonic  Hall  building  would  take  respectable 
rank  in  eastern  cities  of  the  same  size.  The  finest  business 
house  in  the  city  then  was  that  of  Win.  Jennings  &  Co.,  since 
occupied  by  Zion's  Co-operative  Mercantile  Association.  But 
in  the  after  years  the  Gentiles  built  the  large  and  commodious 
Walker  House,  the  National  Bank  building,  five  elegant 
churches,  and  many  other  public  and  private  buildings  of  con- 
siderable beauty. 

It  is  easy  to  see  that  most  of  the  vaunted  beauty  of  Salt 
Lake  was  only  by  comparison.  For  twenty  years  it  was  the 
only  town  between  the  Missouri  and  Sacramento ;  to  reach  it, 
men  had  to  plod  eleven  hundred  weary  miles,  with  mules  or 
oxen,  across  alkali  deserts,  rugged  mountains,  and  barren  flats ; 
to  them  it  was  the  half-way  place  for  rest  and  recruiting,  and 
no  wonder  its  broad,  well-watered  streets,  its  green,  cool  gardens 
and  orchards,  and  its  neat  white  adobes,  seemed  a  very  terres- 
trial Eden.  No  wonder  the  Mormon  emigrants  who  had  mad* 


AND   CRIMES   OF    MORMONISM.  215 

the  weary  passage  from  Europe,  broke  forth  into  songs  and 
shouts  of  glad  surprise,  at  sight  of  their  "  Zion."  But  now 
that  one  can  run  out  in  three  days  from  the  well-built  cities  of 
the  East,  the  contrast  is  lacking,  the  illusion  is  destroyed,  and 
early  visitors  are  flatly  accused  of  having  "  blown  the  Salt  Lake 
trumpet  altogether  too  loud." 

From  a  ramble  through  the  city,  I  went  to  the  noted  Warm 
Springs,  in  the  northwest  end  of  the  city ;  and  without  the 
faith  of  the  Mormons,  I  can  safely  agree  with  them  that  this 
pool  is  "  for  the  healing  of  the  nations."  This  was  the  season 
for  the  emigration  to  arrive,  and  returning  to  the  city  I  found 
the  people  excited  over  the  arrival  of  a  train  of  fifty  teams, 
bringing  a  large  number  of  new  and  some  old  converts  from 
England,  Denmark  and  Switzerland.  The  train  had  unloaded 
in  the  church  corral,  or  tithing  yard,  a  large  walled  enclosure 
in  the  Prophet's  Block ;  I  entered  under  an  arched  stone  gate- 
way and  viewed  the  new  arrivals.  Old,  withered-looking 
women,  fat,  clumpy-looking  girls  and  middle-aged  vrows 
composed  the  female  portion,  and  all  evidently  of  the  poorest 
class. 

In  the  universal  hilarity  that  prevailed,  the  Mormon  girls  were 
selecting  companions  from  the  arrivals,  and  taking  them  to 
their  homes  for  a  few  days'  rest,  the  travel-worn  and  dusty, 
foreign- made  garments  contrasting  strangely  with  the  dress  of 
the  young  Saints.  Female  beauty  was  then  scarce  in  Utah. 
One  occasionally  met  a  fine-looking  woman,  but  there  is  four- 
fold the  beauty  in  many  a  Gentile  town  of  2,000  inhabitants 
that  I  saw  in  all  Utah.  Fine  forms  were  not  uncommon, 
and  some  of  the  younger  women  were  quite  graceful  in  carriage, 
but  beauty  of  expression  was  rare,  and  the  reason  is  obvious. 
Facial  beauty  is  aesthetic,  the  result  of  taste,  sensibility  and 
cultivation,  and  at  least  a  tolerable  elevation  of  the  moral 
faculties.  It  will  not  result  from  a  rude  and  coarse  existence. 
Beauty  of  the  form  is  more  purely  physical,  and  will  naturally 
spring  up  anywhere,  where  woman  is  not  abused  or  overworked. 
Given  a  certain  amount  of  fresh  air,  moderate  exercise  and 
healthy  food,  and  the  correct  womanly  form  is  the  result.  But 


216  POLYGAMY;   OR,   THE   MYSTERIES 

beauty  of  the  features  has  more  of  the  ideal ;  it  is  the  product 
of  a  higher  tone  of  the  mental  and  moral  nature,  and  other 
things  being  equal,  the  greatest  number  of  fine  faces  will  be 
found  in  a  virtuous  and  intelligent  community.  But  Utah 
has  probably  as  favorable  a  climate  for  women  as  any  part  of  the 
world  ;  it  is  said  to  be  an  exact  reproduction  of  the  Circassian 
vales,  where  beauty  is  indigenous,  and  in  time  the  Utah  women 
will  excel  all  the  rest. 

The  men  were  of  the  same  brawny  and  red-faced  foreign 
type,  white-haired  boys,  and  simple-looking  old  men,  which 
every  Western  man  has  so  often  seen  ;  a  low-browed,  stiff-haired, 
ignorant  and  stolid  race.  In  their  faces  could  be  seen  much  of 
the  earnest,  sincere  and  quiet;  but  not  of  the  intellectual, 
bright  or  quick  of  comprehension.  Every  traveler  through 
the  rural  districts  of  Utah  must  have  observed  that,  though 
individual  Saints  differ  somewhat,  as  other  people  do,  yet  there 
are  certain  peculiar  traits  common  to  all.  One  of  these  is  their 
almost  total  lack  of  the  humorous  faculty  or  principle; 
phrenologically  speaking,  they  have  no  organ  of  wit  and 
humor,  or  if  they  have  it  is  so  uncultivated  that  it  is  practically 
dormant. 

They  will  laugh  heartily  enough  at  a  broad  joke  or  coarse  jest, 
but  seem  quite  unable  to  appreciate  keen  satire,  irony  or  deli- 
cate wit,  or  to  perceive  the  ludicrous  in  odd  associations  of  ideas. 
The  Mormon  is  often  terribly  in  earnest,  but  he  is  seldom  funny. 
This  defect  is  partly  one  of  race,  partly  in  lack  of  cultivation, 
but  still  more  in  the  fact  that  few  people  who  can  understand 
and  appreciate  an  absurdity  would  ever  become  Mormons. 
Hence  we  rarely  see  among  them  the  genial,  humorous  Irishman, 
the  keen-witted  Israelite,  the  intellectual  Swiss,  or  the  lively 
and  versatile  Frenchman  ;  but  in  their  stead  stolid  Saxons  and 
plodding  Scandinavians.  Men  are,  to  a  great  extent,  born  to 
certain  forms  of  religious  belief;  Boodhism  is  essentially 
Mongolian,  Spiritism  is  of  the  Indian,  Mohammedanism  has 
its  peculiar  subjects,  and  though  universal  in  its  final  appli- 
cation, the  present  spirit  and  structure  of  Christianity  is  Gothic 
and  European.  And  the  most  gloomy  forms  of  error,  which 


AND  CRIMES  OF   MORMONISM.  217 

have  sprung  from  a  corrupt  Christianity,  find  their  devotees 
among  the  most  solemnly  impressive  and  stolid  of  the  European 
races.  Old  residents  tell  me  that  Artemus  Ward's  lecture  in 
Salt  Lake  was,  professionally  speaking,  a  perfect  failure,  simply 
because  it  was  "  cut  too  fine  "  for  the  latitude.  A  few  laughed 
at  his  broadest  jokes;  then  for  a  solid  hour,  while  he  was  doing 
his  funniest,  the  audience  sat  "  like  a  bump  on  a  log,"  not  giv- 
ing a  smile.  It's  a  wonder  it  did  not  kill  the  sensitive  author. 
Mormon  ism  might  originate  with  keen-witted  Yankees,  but  it 
could  not  long  continue  without  a  broad  basis  of  the  North- 
European  races. 

These  new-comers  looked  homely  enough,  but  it  is  gratifying 
to  observe  the  vast  improvement  even  in  the  first  generation  of 
the  native-born.  Whether  it  is  the  climate,  or  better  food,  or 
exemption  from  the  severe  toil  of  the  poor  in  Europe,  most 
of  the  young  girls  now  coming  on  in  Utah  exhibit  a  vast  per- 
sonal improvement  over  their  parents,  and  among  the  very 
youngest,  whose  families  have  been  there  for  twenty  years,  the 
little  misses  exhibit  promise  of  the  trim,  graceful  form,  the 
arched  instep  and  the  light  tripping  step  of  the  American  girl. 
There  are  many  drawbacks  in  the  social  and  domestic  habits  of 
this  people,  still  nature  is  asserting  her  rights  to  some  extent. 
She  demands  beauty  in  the  female  form,  and  even  Mormonism 
cannot  altogether  prevent  it.  Of  course,  the  younger  genera- 
tion is  more  quick-witted  and  liberal,  hence  the  majority  of 
young  Mormons  are  free  thinkers  and  anti-polygamists.  It  is 
the  old  story  of  the  hen  hatching  swans,  the  vulture  doves,  or 
the  caterpillar  giving  life  to  the  brilliant  butterfly.  And  this 
rapid  improvement  is  notable  in  view  of  the  perils  of  young 
life  in  Utah,  of  which  more  anon. 

In  my  first  rambles  about  the  city  I  found  the  Mormons 
rather  communicative,  and  quite  ready  to  enlighten  me  as  to 
the  peculiar  features  of  their  faith;  indeed,  rather  anxious  to 
prove  the  superiority  of  their  institutions  over  those  of  the 
Gentile  world.  Of  course,  like  all  new-comers,  I  looked  upon 
polygamy  as  the  one  great  evil,  if  not  the  only  evil  of  Utah, 
and  our  discussions  oftenest  turned  on  that.  Their  argument 


218 


POLYGAMY;    OR,    THE    MYSTERIES 


consisted  of  lengthy  details  of  the  causes  they  think  are  de- 
stroying the  human  race — that  is,  in  monogamy.  The  details 
are  more  suitable  for  a  medical  work  on  marriage  than  for  this 
book;  suffice  it  to  say  that  if  I  may  judge  from  my  own  ex- 
perience, the  Mormon  doctrine  as  to  the  physical  nature  of 
woman  is  even  wilder  than  Mormon  theology.  I  was  particu- 
larly amused  at  the  way  they  turned  the  tables  on  Gentiles  by 
charging  all  the  vices  and  crimes  to  them ;  and  even  more  at 
their  parody  on  the  average  high-tariffite  argument:  "O,  that's 


ORSON  PBATT,   LATE    MORMON   APOSTLE. 

all  very  well  as  a  theory,  but  in  history  and  actual  business  the 
facts  are  the  other  way."  I  have  often  noticed  that  this  is  a 
favorite  assertion  of  those  who  have  some  peculiarly  cranky 
theory  to  maintain. 

In  due  time  I  called  on  most  of  the  Mormon  dignitaries: 
first  on  Orson  Pratt,  the  only  man  of  even  tolerable  learning 
in  the  church.  At  once  the  poorest,  proudest,  most  learned 
and  most  devoted  of  the  elders,  he  literally  crucified  himself 
and  wife  on  Mormonism.  Brigham  Young  systematically 


AND    CRIMES    OF    MORMONISM.  219 

ignored  and  snubbed  him,  yet  could  not  dispense  with  him ;  for 
he  needed  Pratt's  sermons  and  writings.  He  was  always  put 
up  in  the  tabernacle  to  impress  Eastern  visitors;  and  while  the 
best  known  man  in  the  hierarchy,  he  was  constantly  in  trouble 
and  on  the  ragged  edge  of  starvation.  He  was  foully  outraged 
by  Joseph  Smith  and  tyrannically  abused  by  Brigham  Young; 
but  adhered  with  dog-like  fidelity  to  both,  wasted  his  life  and 
talents  in  a  vain  attempt  to  turn  the  world  back  to  patriarchal 
barbarism,  and  died  a  pauper  and  a  failure. 

I  also  met  Daniel  H.  Wells,  then  next  in  rank  to  Brigham, 
a  tall  and  ungainly  Saint,  whose  face  and  head  bear  involun- 
tary witness  to  Darwinism.  I  always  considered  him  the  dan- 
gerous man  of  the  lot — a  blood-thirsty  bigot.  My  best  inter- 
view was  with  George  A.  Smith,  cousin  of  the  Prophet  and 
Church  Historian,  and  then  joined  with  Wells  as  Councillor  to 
Brigham  Young,  those  three  constituting  the  First  Presidency. 
The  Gentiles  usually  spoke  of  George  A.  as  the  most  gorgeous 
liar  in  the  Far  West.  To  him  all  doubtful  points  in  Mormon 
annals  were  referred  as  to  an  infallible  oracle.  When  Gentile 
visitors  to  the  tabernacle  were  to  be  impressed,  he  stood  next 
to  Orson  Pratt,  and  when  doubtful  questions  were  to  be  settled 
in  favor  of  Brigham 's  pet  designs,  he  found  a  precedent  or 
made  one  with  equal  readiness.  He  consistently  believed  and 
taught  that  it  was  the  duty  of  the  Mormon  laity  "  to  be  as  a 
tallowed  rag  in  the  hands  of  the  priesthood;"  of  each  order 
of  the  priesthood  to  yield  implicit  obedience  to  their  superiors 
next  in  rank ;  and  of  all  orders,  to  be  subject  to  the  lightest 
command  of  their  divinely  appointed  leader,  Brigham  Young. 
To  the  last  of  his  life  he  obeyed  Brigham's  lightest  request, 
and  died  in  the  confident  faith  that  he  could  only  enter  heaven 
on  Brigham's  voucher,  properly  indorsed  by  Joseph  Smith. 
To  such  steps  of  abasement  may  the  heaven-born  intellect  sink. 
He  was  succeeded  as  First  Councillor  by  Brigham's  son, 
"Johnnie"  Young;  for  it  was  one  of  the  "first  principles  of 
the  gospel"  as  then  known  in  Utah,  that  all  power  was  to  be 
kept  concentrated  in  the  hands  of  the  Smiths  and  Youngs. 
Brigham  Young  I  saw  and  conversed  with  some  time  after- 


220 


POLYGAMY;     OR,    THE    MYSTERIES 


wards,  and  was  for  years  familiar  with  his  appearance  in  the 
pulpit.  Physically,  he  was  admirable;  six  feet  high  and  well- 
muscled,  forty-four  inches  around  the  chest,  with  golden  brown 
or  light  hair,  a  glittering  blue  eye,  a  large  but  well-shaped 
nose  and  a  heavy  jaw  which  shut  like  a  vice.  His  physique 
was  one  that  makes  a  man  do  and  dare,  and  then  take  the  re- 
sults of  that  doing  and  daring  as  marks  of  divine  favor.  Even 
sneering  unbelievers  who  shook  hands  with  him  felt  the  im- 
press of  his  magnetic  potentiality,  nor  was  it  pleasant  to  face 


GEORGE  A.  SMITH,   LATE  MORMON  COUNCILLOR. 

him  with  the  consciousness  that  one  was  his  enemy.  Many  an 
apostate  can  bear  witness  that  long  after  being  convinced  that 
Mormonism  was  a  hollow  fraud,  which  he  ought  to  abandon, 
and  could  abandon  without  danger,  he  still  felt  a  grievous 
dread  of  standing  up  in  the  "School  of  the  Prophets"  to  face 
the  wrath  of  Brigham  Young.  To  women  of  the  uncultured 
and  impressible  sort,  such  a  man  is  often  as  fascinating  as  a 
gentle  and  purring  lion:  one  with  all  power  in  reserve  to  be 
exercised  only  for  them  and  upon  their  enemies.  Even  a  few 


AND    f  J3.IMES   OF    MOBMONI8M.  221 

non-Mormon  women  have  confessed  a  mild  admiration  for  this 
mass  of  power,  and  at  least  two  Gentile  ladies  have  so  far  for- 
gotten themselves  as  to  write  in  fulsome  praise  of  a  man  whose 
very  existence  was  a  standing  insult  to  womanhood.  Such  re- 
spect hath  great  native  power  and  virile  force. 

The  latter  part  of  September  I  devoted  to  a  tramp  afoot 
through  the  northern  part  of  the  Territory.  My  journey  for 
the  first  two  or  three  days  lay  along  the  base  of  the  Wasatch; 
where  a  strip,  a  few  miles  wide,  intervenes  between  the  moun- 
tain and  lake;  and  wherever  a  good  stream  issues  from  the 
mountain,  along  it  is  a  narrow  tract  of  farming  land.  The 
second  day  out  a  larger  and  finer  orchard  than  ordinary  at- 
tracted my  attention,  and,  as  the  gate  stood  invitingly  open,  I 
walked  forward  to  where  two  women  sat  beneath  a  tree  prepar- 
ing fruit  for  drying,  and  proposed  to  purchase  a  dozen  or  two 
of  peaches.  Fruit  in  plenty  was  offered  and  all  pay  refused, 
and  while  I  took  a  proffered  seat,  the  younger  lady,  a  bright, 
lively,  voluble  woman,  entered  at  once  into  conversation  by 
asking  what  State  I  had  come  from. 

"How  do  you  know  I  am  not  a  Utah  man?"  I  asked. 
"Oh,  1   knowed  you  was  a  Gentile  the  minute  you  stepped 
in  at  the  gate,  and  you  bet  everybody  knows  it  the  minute  they 
see  you,"  was  the  reply. 

Further  conversation  showed  that  the  lady  had  quite  a  his- 
tory. She  told  me  her  father  came  to  Salt  Lake  City  twenty- 
one  years  ago,  and  she  was  the  third  white  child  born  in  the 
place. 

"But  I  couldn't  see  it  in  my  way  to  marry  a  Saint,  not 
much;  though  I  was  raised  to  believe  in  it,  and  do  believe  in 
the  religion  all  but  that." 

"Is  your  father  a  Mormon?"  I  ventured  to  ask. 
"Oh,  yes,  and  got  four  women;  only  one  wife,  mind  you, 
.that's  my  mother;  but  four  women  who  call  themselves  his 
wives.  I  never  was  raised  to  know  anything  else,  but  when  I 
was  nineteen  father  married  me  to  a  Gentile,'  cause  he  couldn't 
help  himself,  I  reckon.  My  husband  was  raised  next  door  to 
me,  and  went  to  California  and  stayed  five  years,  and  soon  as  he 


222  POLYGAMY;    OK,   THE    MYSTERIES 

come  back  we  was  married.  I'd  a  stayed  an  old  maid  a  thou- 
sand years  before  I'd  take  a  pluralist.  Plurality's  all  well 
enough  for  the  men,  but  common  sense  shows  that  it  don't  suit 
women." 

"Why,  then,  do  some  of  them  hold  up  for  it?" 

"Well,  they  think  they  must  to  get  exaltation  ;  it's  a  part  of 
their  religion,  and  sometimes  they  get  along  pretty  well.  We 
never  had  any  trouble  in  father's  family.  The  children  all 
growed  up  just  like  brothers  and  sisters,  and  treated  each  other 
so.  Father  always  taught  me  to  respect  his  other  women,  and 
I  always  did  so. 

"  But,  law,  I've  seen  such  sights  in  other  families.  Why, 
I've  seen  our  neighbor's  women  just  pull  the  hair  right  out  of 
each  other's  heads.  There's  so  many  men,  when  they  get  a 
young  wife,  will  let  her  abuse  the  old  one,  and  encourage  her  to 
do  it. 

"I've  seen  the  man  stand  by,  and  say,  'Go  in,  kill  her,  if 
you  can.'  Now,  there  is  Ephe.  Roberts,  right  over  there," — 
pointing  to  a  stone  house  near  the  mountain, — "  he  brought  a 
real  young  delicate  wife  from  New  York,  now  goin'  on  sixteen 
years  ago,  and  she  worked  awful  hard,  I  tell  you;  why,  I've 
known  her  to  do  all  her  own  work  when  Ephe.  had  three  hands 
and  the  threshin'  machine  at  his  house,  and  sometimes  she 
worked  out  in  the  field,  bound  wheat  and  raked  hay,  which, 
you  know,  is  awful  hard  on  a  delicate  New  York  woman — 
'taint  as  if  she'd  been  raised  to  it,  like  we  folks,  and  after  all, 
just  last  year,  Ephe.  went  and  married  another  woman,  a  real 
young  one,  not  over  twenty,  and,  don't  you  think,  this  spring 
she  knocked  Maria — that's  his  first  wife — down  with  the 
churn-dasher,  and  scalded  her.  Ephe.  stood  by,  and  just  said, 
'Go  in,  Luce;  kill  her,  if  you  can!'  It  all  started  about  a 
churn,  too.  Both  wanted  to  use  it  at  once.  Maria  had  it,  and 
her  butter  was  a  little  slow  a  comin',  and  they  got  mad,  and 
Luce  struck  her,  and  then  snatched  the  kettle  right  off  the 
stove  and  poured  hot  water  on  her  feet,  so  she  fell  down 
when  she  tried  to  run  out.  And  what  was  the  result,  finally  ? 
Well,  Maria  left  him  ;  of  course,  she  had  to,  or  be  killed.  It's 


AND  CRIMES  OF   MORMONISM.  223 

very  nice,  though,  for  the  men.  I  had  a  dozen  chances  to 
marry  old  Mormons,  but  law !  I  wouldn't  give  that  for  all  of 
'em.  Why,  just  turn  things  round,  and  let  a  woman  have  two 
or  three  men,  and  see  how  they'd  like  that !  There  wouldn't 
be  no  murderin'  done  in  these  parts,  oh,  no !  And,  I  reckon,  a 
woman  has  as  fine  feelin's  as  a  man.  I  tell  you,  if  my  husband 
ever  joins  'em,  or  tries  to  get  another  wife,  that  day  I'll  hunt 
another  Gentile;  you  bet!"  The  testimony  of  this  witness, 
professionally  speaking,  was  certainly  plain  ;  nor  did  she  trouble 
me  to  cross-examine,  but  gave  her  views  freely.  I  note  one 
singular  fact  in  all  similar  cases  :  During  a  long  residence  in 
Utah  I  have  never  in  a  single  instance  talked  ten  minutes  with 
a  young  lady  of  polygamous  family,  that  did  not  manage  in 
some  way  to  tell  me,  she  was  the  daughter  of  the  first,  or  legal 
wife,  if  such  was  the  case.  If  silent  on  that  point,  it  may 
safely  be  presumed  they  are  of  polygamous  mothers.  And  in 
more  than  one  instance  I  have  known  them  to  falsely  claim 
legitimate  birth. 

I  stopped  next  night  with  a  well-to-do  Mormon  who  occupied 
a  long,  one-story  stone  house,  divided  into  three  large  rooms, 
with  a  kitchen  in  the  rear  of  each  :  each  room  was  occupied  by 
one  of  his  three  wives  and  her  children.  He  seemed  to  be 
living  at  the  time  with  the  middle  one,  where  we  took  supper. 
The  partition  walls  must  have  been  two  feet  thick,  without  any 
communication,  each  wife  with  her  progeny  keeping  strictly  to 
her  own  department.  His  motto  seemed  to  be,  "  Let  us  have 
peace." 

The  Deseret  Telegraph  line  follows  this  road  to  the  northern 
boundary  of  the  Territory,  and  south  of  the  city  extends 
nearly  to  Arizona,  with  side  branches  connecting  all  the  de- 
tached settlements;  the  wires  centre  in  the  Mormon  Presi- 
dent's office,  and  thus  at  a  moment's  notice  he  can  send  a 
warning  of  danger  to  five-sixths  of  his  people,  and  in  twenty- 
four  hours'  time  the  most  isolated  settlers  could  be  ready  to 
move.  Whether  for  good  or  bad  purposes,  it  is  a  remarkable 
monument  of  Mormon  enterprise. 

In  this  trip  T  journeyed  nearly  two  hundred  miles  among  the. 


224  POLYGAMY. 

rural  Saints,  and  observed  their  ways  with  all  earnestness  and 
curiosity.  The  country  Mormon  is  more  religious  than  his  city 
brother,  but  less  intelligent.  He  is  a  greater  stickler  for  the  small 
matters  of  his  faith,  but  much  less  able  to  give  a  reason  why. 
He  is  more  hospitable,  generous,  and  social,  but  much  more  of- 
fensive in  thrusting  the  unpleasant  features  of  his  faith  upon 
you.  But  the  greatest  difference  is  among  the  women.  The 
polygamous  wife  in  the  city  is  in  paradise  compared  with  her 
sister  in  the  country,  where  farm  labors  and  cares  must  be 
shared  in  common.  There  the  condition  of  woman  is  already 
fast  tending  to  what  it  is  in  other  polygamous  countries,  and 
there  the  degeneracy  is  soonest  manifest.  While  the  men  are 
enthusiastically  devoted  to  their  faith,  I  did  not  meet  a  single 
woman  in  the  country  who  defended  polygamy,  though  strongly 
Mormon  in  everything  else. 

The  Mormons  have  adopted  the  bee  as  their  model,  and  have 
stopped  content  with  the  blind  instincts  of  the  bee:  food, 
shelter,  and  propagation,  with  little  or  no  thought  for  the 
higher  nature.  So,  as  might  have  been  expected,  in  this  trip 
and  many  more  through  Utah  I  witnessed  much  that  was  sad- 
dening, something  that  was  disgusting,  and  not  a  little  that  was 
highly  amusing.  Near  Ogdeii  was  an  old  Dane  living  with  a 
mother  and  two  daughters  as  wives ;  in  Brigham  City  Bishop 
Samuel  Smith  numbered  his  two  nieces  among  his  wives,  and 
near  Bear  River  I  found  an  old  Swede  with  three  women  in  a 
cabin  not  comfortable  for  one.  Against  the  Mormon  doctrine 
of  polygamy  the  most  conclusive  argument  is  the  Mormon  prac- 
tice of  polygamy. 

I  reached  Salt  Lake  City  October  6,  first  day  of  the  Semi- 
Annual  Conference.  This  is  the  great  occasion  among  the 
Saints,  and  thousands  come  from  the  most  distant  settlements. 
From  my  place  near  the  pulpit,  and  just  at  one  side,  I  could 
overlook  the  whole  vast  sea  of  faces ;  and  the  entire  oval,  as 
well  as  the  space  beside  the  organ,  was  completely  filled  by  at 
least  ten  thousand  eager  auditors.  The  rows  of  high  seats  on 
either  side  of  the  pulpit  were  occupied  by  bishops  and  elders 
from  distant  settlements,  some  three  hundred  in  all,  while  the 


(225) 


226  POLYGAMY;    OR,    THE    MYSTERIES 

four  Jong  seats  constituting  the  pulpit  were  occupied  by  the 
Fire'«  Presidency,  consisting  of  Brigham  Young,  Daniel  H. 
Wells,  and  a  vacant  space  for  the  late  Heber  C.  Kimball ;  alsc 
by  tUe  Twelve  Apostles,  the  Heads  of  the  Quorum  of  Seventies, 
the  Church  Secretary,  Historian,  and  City  Elders.  It  was  the 
largest  collection  of  the  Saints  I  had  yet  seen,  and  I  studied  it 
with  much  interest.  Occasionally  I  would  see  a  fine  cast  of 
American  features,  but  nearly  all  the  faces  had  that  indescrib- 
able foreign  look,  which  all  can  recognize  and  none  portray. 

The  meeting  was  called  to  order,  after  which  the  Twentieth 
Ward  choir  sang, 

"  My  soul  is  full  of  peace  and  love, 
I  SOOD  shall  see  Christ  from  above,"  etc. 

Prayer  was  offered   by  Elder  Erastus  Snow,  followed   by  a 
quartette  by  the  Brighara  City  choir, 

"  Pray  for  the  peace  of  Deseret," 

after  which  Elder  John  Taylor  addressed  the  meeting,  and 
the  choir  sang  the  following  hymn,  composed  for  the  occasion 
by  "Miss"  Eliza  R.  Snow,  the  Mormon  poetess,  proxy  wife 
once  of  Joseph  Smith  and  later  of  Brigham  Young : 

"OUR  PROPHET,   BRIGHAM   YOUNG." 
"  O  God  of  life  and  glory  ! 

Hear  Thou  a  people's  prayer, 
Bless,  bless  our  Prophet  Brigham  ; 
Let  him  Thy  fullness  share. 
He  is  Thy  chosen  servant — 

To  lead  Thine  Israel  forth, 
Till  Zion,  crowned  with  joy,  shall  b* 
A  praise  in  all  the  earth. 

"  He  draws  from  Christ,  the  fountain 

Of  everlasting  truth, 
The  wise  and  prudent  counsels 
Which  he  gives  to  age  and  youth. 
Thyself  in  him  reflected 

Through  mortal  agency, 
He  is  Thy  representative 
To  set  Thy  people  free. 


AND   CRIMES   OF    MOBMONISM.  227 

"  Thon  richly  hast  endowed  him 

With  wisdom's  bounteous  store, 

And  Thou  hast  made  him  mighty 

By  Thy  own  Almighty  power. 

Oh,  let  his  life  be  precious — 

Bless  Thou  his  brethren,  too, 
Who  firmly  join  him  side  by  aide, 
Who're  true  as  he  is  true. 

"  Help  him  to  found  Thy  kingdom 

In  majesty  and  power, 
With  peace  in  every  palace 

And  with  strength  in  every  tower; 
And  when  thy  chosen  Israel 

Their  noblest  strains  have  sung, 

The  swelling  chorus  then  shall  be 

Our  Prophet,  Brighara  Young." 

Then  came  historical  addresses  and  speeches,  each  growing 
fiercer  and  more  bitter  than  the  ones  before  it,  till  Brigham 
rose.  His  style  was  coarse,  even  vulgar  beyond  the  bounds  of 
description.  He  was  evidently  either  in  an  ill  humor  or  deter- 
mined to  make  the  people  so,  indulging  in  reminiscences,  both 
personal  and  public,  which  led  him  into  violent  denunciation'  of 
all  outsiders.  When  he  first  arose  I  was  somewhat  impressed, 
and  thought  I  saw  one  reason  for  his  supremacy,  that  he  was 
indebted  for  his  power  over  an  ignorant  people  almost  as  much 
to  his  physical  as  to  his  mental  superiority.  But  when  he  had 
closed  I  was  utterly  amazed,  and  it  seemed  incredible  that  one 
hundred  people  could  be  found,  much  less  a  thousand  times  that 
number,  who  should  regard  him  as  a  "  prophet  of  the  Lord." 
Afterwards,  however,  I  had  the  pleasure  of  hearing  him  when 
he  was  in  a  calmer  mood,  when  he  appeared,  to  some  extent  at 
least,  the  prophet,  priest  and  king. 

For  the  rest  of  the  conference,  which  was  mainly  devoted  to 
the  discussion  of  a  general  movement  to  prevent  trade  with  the 
Gentile  merchants,  the  speakers  seemed  to  vie  with  each  other 
in  bitterness,  intemperance  of  language,  and  hostility  to  Gen- 
tiles; and  all  the  good  opinions  of  the  Mormons  I  had  hitherto 
formed  were  utterly  dissipated.  Por  the  first  time  in  my  life  I 
heard  the  government  and  people  of  the  United  States  de- 


228  POLYGAMY;   OR,   THE    MYSTERIES 

nounced,  ridiculed  and  cursed,  and  the  very  name  of  American 
made  a  hissing  and  a  byword ;  for  the  first  time  I  heard  pro- 
fessed preachers  swearing  in  the  pulpit,  and  such  expressions  as 
"d — d  apostate"  recklessly  flung  about  by  so-called  apostles 
and  priests.  The  conference  closed,  and  its  bad  effect  was  soon 
apparent.  When  I  first  arrived,  there  had  been  an  era  of  good 
feeling ;  old  bitterness  appeared  to  be  passing  away,  and  I  was 
quite  convinced  that  much  I  had  heard  of  the  feud  between  the 
Gentiles  and  Mormons  was  exaggerated. 

The  intention  being  to  pass  a  decree  of  non-intercourse  with 
resident  Gentiles,  the  speakers  used  every  device  to  inflame, 
the  public  mind.  The  entire  history  of  the  church  was  re- 
hearsed, and  in  the  most  intemperate  style;  every  act  of  perse- 
cution, every  slight  and  neglect  was  dwelt  upon  to  the  most 
minute  particulars,  and  matters  of  comparative  indifference 
exaggerated  clear  out  of  truthful  proportion.  There  was  not 
the  slightest  hint  that  the  Mormons  were  anywhere  in  the 
wrong,  that  there  was  the  least  palliation  for  their  enemies;  not 
even  the  charitable  assumption  that  some  few  of  the  latter  be- 
lieved themselves  in  the  right,  On  the  contrary,  every  scrap 
of  history  began  and  continued  with  the  broad  assumption, 
"  We  are  the  chosen  people  of  God,  to  whom  he  has  spoken  by 
the  mouth  of  his  Prophet  in  these  latter  days,  and,  being  such, 
of  course  the  world  hated  us.  There  is  and  must  be  eternal 
enmity  between  God  and  the  devil,  so  there  was  and  must  be 
between  Zion  and  the  children  of  the  devil,  to  wit,  the  Mis- 
sourians  and  Illinoisans."  And  these  simple  folks,  who  had 
come  up  to  the  Tabernacle  with  quiet  minds,  at  peace  with  each 
other  and  all  the  world,  left  it  with  a  burning  bitterness  against 
all  Gentiles;  and,  as  successive  speakers  recounted  their  troubles 
in  Missouri  and  Illinois,  they  were  wrought  up  to  a  perfect 
frenzy.  In  Brigham's  sermon  he  threatened  dire  mischiefs  upon 
the  "d — d  apostates,"  and  expressed  himself  as  "only  sorry  for 
one  thing,  that  God  didn't  tell  us  to  fight  the  d — d  mobocrats," 
to  which  the  Tabernacle  resounded  with  shouts  of  "Amen, 
Amen!" 

George  Q.  Cannon  went  much  farther,  and  seemed  to  exhaust 


AND   CRIMES   OF   MOKMONISM.  229 

4 

all  the  resources  of  lingual  ingenuity  to  provoke  the  people  to 
mob  violence,  without  directly  advising  it.  The  great  objects 
of  his  animosity  were  the  Reporter — Gentile  paper — and  the 
grammar  school  of  St.  Mark's  associate  mission,  then  the  only 
Gentile  school  of  the  city.  Cannon  stigmatized  the  school  as 
one  of  the  institutions  of  the  devil  set  up  in  Zion,  and  then 
asked :  "  Shall  such  an  institution  be  allowed  to  go  on  and  in- 
oculate the  minds  of  our  children  with  its  damnable  and  per- 
nicious doctrines?"  which  was  answered  with  a  universal  shout 
of  "No!"  "No."  He  hardly  dared  to  directly  advise  the 
people  to  attack  or  destroy  the  Reporter  office,  but  related  a  bit 
of  history,  with  comments,  which,  if  not  intended  to  indicate 
violence,  had  no  force  that  I  can  perceive.  He  said  when  he 
was  a  boy  in  Nauvoo,  there  was  a  paper  published  there  by 
some  apostates  called  the  Expositor.  It  villified  the  Saints,  and 
scandalized  their  wives  and  daughters  till  the  city  council  de- 
clared it  a  nuisance.  About  that  time  the  speaker  was  in  the 
office  of  the  Mormon  paper  there,  and  heard  Joseph  and  Hyrum 
Smith  talking  about  it.  Hyrum  said,  "  Rather  than  allow  it  to 
go  on,  he  would  lay  his  body  in  the  walls  of  the  building  where 
it  was  issued."  The  speaker  then  gave  a  glowing  account  of 
the  martyrdom  of  Joseph  and  Hyrum,  and  the  many  Saints 
who  suffered  on  account  of  the  Expositor,  till  the  people  grew 
frantic.  He  then  stated  that  "  right  here  in  the  midst  of  Zion 
a  paper  was  issued  so  much  like  that  he  could  hardly  tell  them 
apart,  and  the  times  were  so  similar  he  almost  imagined  him- 
self a  boy  again."  Then  reading  some  extracts  from  the 
Reporter,  and  commenting  in  an  inflammatory  style,  he  said : 
"In  any  other  community  such  a  paper  as  this  would  be  gutted 
inside  of  five  days,  and  its  editor  strung  up  to  a  telegraph  pole." 
To  which  the  excited  congregation  responded,  "  Hear,  hear," 
"  Here  we  are." 

I  now  began  to  understand  what  had  at  first  seemed  a  mys- 
tery to  me ;  that  in  every  State  where  the  Mormons  had  lived, 
the  people  who  had  at  first  welcomed  them  gladly,  ended  by 
hating  and  opposing  them.  Granting  that  the  charges  against 
them  of  petty  thieving,  counterfeiting  and  trespass  were  untrue, 


230  POLYGAMY. 

such  raad  fanaticism  could  not  but  destroy  good  neighborhood, 
and  arouse  all  other  violent  elements  in  opposition  to  their 
own.  Mormonisrn,  which  had  hitherto  been  to  me  a  mere 
amusement  or  matter  of  passing  interest,  now  appeared  a  sub- 
ject worthy  of  serious  and  earnest  investigation;  but  the  threats 
to  destroy  the  Reporter  office  and  hang  the  editor  had  an  un- 
pleasant suggestiveness,  as  I  had  already  applied  at  that  office 
for  work  and  had  fair  hopes  of  a  situation.  In  Indiana  the 
author  had  been  a  lawyer ;  had  started  to  the  Pacific  coast  on 
:i  trip  for  health,  and  merely  halted  in  Utah  for  a  rest  without 
a  thought  of  making  it  a  permanent  residence.  But  Mr.  S.  S. 
Saul,  who  had  founded  the  Reporter  a  few  months  before,  soon 
convinced  me  that  Mormonism  and  Utah  development  furnished 
just  the  field  for  my  particular  cast  of  mind ;  and  the  result 
was  that  leu  days  after  the  stormy  conference  closed  I  was  in- 
stalled as  regular  editor  of  the  little  Reporter. 

The  paper  was  a  daily,  sixteen  inches  square,  containing 
about  as  much  reading  matter  as  four  pages  of  tnis  volume  ;  and 
if  ever  any  poor  little  thing  had  a  sicklier  childhood,  I  never 
heard  of  it.  Established  in  May,  1868,  it  had,  when  1  began 
to  edit  it,  just  sixty-nine  paying  subscribers.  When  Saul  re- 
turned from  a  trip  East  we  had  increased  the  number  two  hun- 
dred. Saul  was  cast  down  ;  the  compositors  and  I  were  confi- 
dent. We  reasoned  after  the  foolishly  sanguine  manner  of 
newspaper  men,  that  if  we  could  do  so  well  for  another,  we 
could  do  ten  times  as  well  for  ourselves — a  common  conclusion 
with  hopeful  youth,  and  one  which  is  not  necessarily  correct. 
Saul  surrendered  the  entire  office  to  General  P.  E.  Connor,  of 
whom  he  had  bought  it ;  and  we — Adam  Aulbach,  John  Barrett, 
and  myself — purchased  it.  The  price  was  $2,500,  to  be  paid  at 
the  rate  of  $300  a  month.  By  the  most  heroic  exertions,  \ve 
raised  the  first  payment  of  $100  each ;  the  second  was  paid,  1 
believe,  some  three  months  after.  Eight  months  from  the  day 
of  sale  the  General  was  pressing  us,  for  the  third  instalment,  six 
months  over  due;  but  you  cannot  "draw  blood  out  of  a  tur- 
nip,"  and  he  never  did  get  his  money  till  both  my  partners  had 
sold  out  to  a  man  of  some  wealth. 


(231) 


232 


POLYGAMY;   OE,  THE   MYSTERIES 


I  was  fixed  as  Gentile  editor  in  Salt  Lake,  but  the  Gentiles 
were  in  cruel  straits.  The  decree  of  the  Mormon  Church  had 
been  carried  out  strictly,  and  Gentile  stores  were  empty.  It  was 
amusing  and  provoking  to  take  a  walk  along  Main  street  that 
winter,  and  see  the  melancholy  Jews  standing  in  the  doors  of 
their  stores  looking  in  vain  for  customers.  For  six  months  the 
ten  Gentile  firms  did  not  sell  one-twentieth  the  usual  amount  of 
goods ;  their  disgust  was  beyond  expression,  and  their  curses 
against  Brigham  not  loud  but  deep.  It  is  indeed  a  singular 
fact,  to  the  Eastern  reader  quite  incomprehensible,  that  one  man 
should  be  able  by  his  simple  will  to  coiral  the  commerce  of 


BBIGHAM'b  BLOCK,  SALT  LAKE  CITY. 

ninety  thousand  people,  nullify  the  laws  of  trade,  reverse  the 
popular  current  in  favor  of  certain  dealers,  and  completely  ruin 
the  business  of  a  score  of  merchants ;  and  yet  that  is  precisely 
what  was  done  in  Utah.  There  was  no  great  violence,  nothing 
that  the  law  could  take  cognizance  of,  nothing  that  would  make 
much  of  a  showing  before  a  Congressional  Committee;  and  yet 
to  the  sufferers  it  was  actual  persecution,  fully  as  hard  as  most 
of  what  the  Mormons  complain  of. 

One  by  one  the  Gentile  merchants  lost  heart  and  emigrated. 
The  leading  firm  was  that  of  Walker  Brothers  :  four  gentlemen, 


AND   CRIMES   OF   MORMON  ISM.  233 

now  worth  together  probably  a  million  dollars ;  born  Mormons, 
but  delivered  early  in  life,  by  the  grace  of  God,  from  the  body 
of  that  death.  They  offered  their  immense  property  and  stock 
at  very  low  figures  to  the  Mormon  Co-operative  Institution, 
but  being  refused,  enlarged  their  store  and  determined  to  fight 
it  out  on  that  line  if  it  took  no  end  of  summers.  For  a  year  or 
so  they  sunk  money,  but  pluck  and  public  spirit  conquered ; 
the  mining  development  of  Utah  more  than  doubled  their 
former  prosperity.  They  are  now  the  merchant  princes  of 
Utah,  investing  heavily  in  mining  enterprises,  men  of  national 
reputation,  and  forward  in  all  works  to  advance  the  liberal 
cause. 

But  theirs  was  the  only  vessel  that  outrode  the  financial 
storm  without  serious  loss ;  and  Salt  Lake  City  held  by  July, 
1869,  no  more  than  one  hundred  and  fifty  Gentiles.  The 
Mormon  Hierarchy  had  determined  to  corral  the  trade  of  Utah 
by  a  grand  co-operative  scheme,  for  the  benefit  of  the  Church ; 
and  men  who  can  stand  it  to  live  with  six  or  eight  wives  apiece 
must  be  credited  with  some  resolution.  And  here  I  may  re- 
mark that  I  never  was  in  a  country  where  a  little  talent  would 
sell  so  high  as  at  that  time  in  Utah.  There  were  but  few  men 
of  real  genius  on  either  side  of  the  controversy ;  far  more,  of 
course,  among  the  Gentiles  than  the  Mormons,  but  the  Gentile 
talent  was  nearly  all  of  a  business  kind.  Good  writers  and 
speakers  were  few  indeed.  Of  apostate  Mormons  there  were 
several  of  a  peculiar  genius;  but  it  was  too  often  of  the  hair- 
splitting kind.  One  such  I  long  ranked  among  my  friends. 
He  was  radical,  emotional,  generous  and  inconsistently  amiable. 
He  talked  long  and  loud  of  liberty,  equality,  and  fraternity,  but 
cursed  the  administration  and  despaired  of  republican  govern- 
ment ;  he  quoted  Tom  Paine  and  Herbert  Spencer  by  the  hour, 
was  poloquent  on  First  Principles  and  Universal  Law,  arid  ar- 
gued on  the  Supreme  Good,  the  origin  of  evil,  and  the  control 
of  passion,  till  he  was  black  in  the  face  with  anger.  He  swore 
by  woman,  yet  doubted  her  virtue ;  unhesitatingly  rejected  the 
New  Testament  miracles,  and  unhesitatingly  accepted  everything 
published  in  the  Banner  of  Light ;  put  his  trust  in  a  miserable 


234  POLYGAMY;   OR,   THE   MYOTERIES 

half-faith  which  he  called  Spiritual  Philosophy,  and  believed 
every  book  but  the  Bible.  Such  were  the  materials  we  had 
with  which  to  build  up  a  liberal  party  in  Utah. 

Spring  approached,  and  by  general  consent  the  more  enter- 
prising Gentiles  began  to  look  for  a  new  place  of  settlement, 
On  the  25th  of  March  the  city  of  Corinne  was  laid  out  at  the 
railroad  crossing*  on  Bear  River,  some  six  miles  north  of  the 
north  end  of  the  lake ;  we  moved  the  Reporter  there  early  in 
April,  and  all  went  to  work  with  a  hurrah  to  make  a  "great 
Gentile  city."  It  was  a  gay  community.  Nineteen  saloons  paid 
b'cense  for  three  months.  Two  dance-houses  amused  the  ele- 
gant leisure  of  the  evening  hours,  and  the  supply  of  "  sports  " 
was  fully  equal  to  the  requirements  of  a  railroad  town.  Atone 
time  the  town  contained  eighty  nymph*  du  pave,  popularly 
known  in  Mountain- English  as  "soiled  doves."  Being  the  last 
railroad  town,  it  enjoyed  flush  times  during  the  closing  weeks 
of  building  the  Pacific  Railway.  The  junction  of  the  Union 
and  Central  was  then  at  Promontory,  twenty-eight  miles  west, 
and  Corinne  was  the  retiring  place  for  rest  and  recreation  of  all 
the  employes.  Yet  it  was  withal  a  quiet  and  rather  orderly 
place.  Sunday  was  generally  observed  :  most  of  the  men  went 
hunting  or  fishing,  and  the  "girls"  had  a  dance,  or  got  drunk. 

Legitimate  business  was  good  for  the  first  two  months  of  the 
city's  existence ;  for  the  railroad  was  just  being  completed,  and 
everybody  supposed  that  the  harvest  of  gain  was  about  to  begin. 
But  after  a  year  or  two  of  active  business  and  speculation  in  real 
estate,  the  narrow-gauge  railroad  was  constructed  up  the  Mor- 
mon side  of  Bear  River  valley;  all  our  Montana  and  Idaho 
trade  took  that  route,  and  Coriune  sank  to  a  dull  hamlet  of  four 
or  five  hundred  people.  My  corner  lots,  which  cost  me  $500, 
were  sold  for  taxe%  through  sheer  neglect;  and  $1,000  which  I 
spent  in  establishing  a  paper  there  has  proved  to  be  a  very  per- 
manent investment.  In  May,  1869,  the  Union  Pacific  Rail- 
road was  completed ;  but  to  our  extreme  disgust  Utah  lost,  in- 
Btead  of  gaining,  Gentile  inhabitants.  We  hated  to  give  up, 
both  for  business  reasons  and  the  natural  American  dislike  to 
being  whipped  out.  Now  what  was  to  be  done  ? 


AND    CRIMES   OF    MORMOXISM.  235 

The  Gentiles  were  ruined  in  business  if  that  business 
depended  on  the  Mormons,  and  a  few  of  us  turned  our  eyes 
towards  the  hills  as  a  last  hope.  We  wanted  to  live  in  Utah  ; 
to  do  so  we  must  have  a  Gentile  population,  and  the  only  hope 
for  such  a  population  was  in  developing  paying  mines.  Trade 
with  the  Mormons  no  Gentile  could  count  on,  and  in  agricul- 
ture no  American  could  go  into  the  country  and  compete  with 
the  foreign-born  Mormons,  who  worked  little  five  .and  ten-acre 
patches,  and  thought  themselves  in  affluence  if  they  had  a 
hundred  dollars'  worth  of  surplus  produce.  Unless  Utah  had 
rich  mineral  deposits,  we  might  prepare  to  emigrate.  Cotton- 
wood,  Rush  Valley  and  Sevier  were  spoken  of — the  last  far  in 
Southern  Utah.  The  place  was  beyond  the  settlements,  in  the 
edge  of  the  Indian  country,  and  the  route  thither  lay  through 
the  dark  regions  of  Polygamia.  But  the  reports  appeared 
favorable,  and  I  determined  to  visit  the  district.  Gilmer  and 
Saulsbury,  successors  to  Wells,  Fargo  &  Co.,  ran  a  tri-weekly 
line  to  Fillmore,  the  old  territorial  capital ;  and  from  Chicken 
Creek,  north  of  that  city,  a  miners'  express  sometimes  ran  to 
the  Sevier  region. 

My  memory  does  not  recall  a  more  pleasant  journey.  The 
"  coves  "  opening  back  into  the  mountains  were  rich  in  bunch- 
grass,  which  was  fairly  alive  with  jack  rabbits;  sage  hens,  and 
other  small  fowl  were  abundant  on  the  lower  plain,  and  vast 
flocks  of  ducks  were  found  along  the  river.  The  valley  has  a 
general  elevation  of  five  thousand  feet  above  sea-level ;  the  air 
was  cool,  pure  and  invigorating,  and  the  sky  without  a  cloud, 
deep  blue  and  dazzling.  Southern  Utah  has  probably  the  finest 
climate  in  America,  or,  taking  it  the  year  round,  in  the  world. 
The  snow  seldom  falls  more  than  three  inches  deep,  or  lies  on 
more  than  one  night.  Cattle  live  upon  the  range  nearly  all 
winter,  and  yet  the  district  is  free  from  the  scorching  summer 
heats  of  Arizona. 

At  Marysvale,  last  town  on  the  Sevier,  we  found  the  Mor- 
mons returning  to  their  homes,  after  three  years  absence,  the 
Indians  being  once  more  peaceful.  There  we  turned  west- 
ward, and  toiled  for  six  miles  up  Pine  Gulch,  on  which  the 


236  POLYGAMY;    OR,   THE   MYSTERIES 

v 

mines  are  situated.  Along  the  mountain  stream  by  a  narrow 
dug-way,  with  an  average  up-grade  of  one  foot  in  four,  but 
cut  by  cross  ravines,  and  often  turned  by  immense  rocks,  we 
slowly  made  our  way  towards  the  mountain  top.  One  moment 
we  were  on  the  edge  of  a  narrow  track  where  an  overturn 
would  have  sent  us  a  hundred  feet  into  the  bed  of  the  stream, 
and  the  next  struggling  through  a  narrow  chasm  at  the  bottom 
of  the  gulch,  with  walls  of  granite  rising  on  both  sides  of  us, 
and  above  them  the  sloping  sides  of  the  cafion  half  a  mile  in 
height,  with  a  descent  of  more  than  forty-five  degrees,  and  cov- 
ered with  immense  pine  forests  to  the  very  summit.  The  roar- 
ing brook,  now  beside,  now  far  below  us,  and  again  under  our 
wagon-wheels,  seemed  to  besingingof  the  snowy  heights  that  form 
its  source ;  and  at  every  place  where  a  short  level  or  natural  dam 
of  rock  forms  a  pool,  the  shining  mountain  trout  were  to  be  seen 
in  numbers  through  the  clear  fluid,  though  its  temperature  is  but 
little  above  that  of  ice- water,  which  indeed  it  is  at  its  source  a 
few  miles  above. 

After  a  laborious  but  delightful  tour  among  the  mining  loca- 
tions (for  there  were  as  yet  no  worked  mines),  I  returned  to  Zion 
much  improved  in  health ;  thence,  after  a  few  weeks  work,  I 
went  to  California  for  a  month's  vacation,  and  the  last  of  Octo- 
ber returned  to  Utah  and  trouble.  I  was  summoned  to  attend 
court  November  1st,  1869,  at  Brigham  City,  county -seat  of  Box 
Elder,  the  county  in  which  Corinne  is  cituated.  The  Judge 
was  Bishop  Smith,  husband  of  six  wives,  of  whom  two  are  the 
daughters  of  his  own  brother.  These  facts  are  notorious  in 
Utah ;  and  I  am  informed,  though  of  this  I  am  not  positive, 
that  the  girls  were  "  sealed  "  to  their  uncle  by  Brigham  Young 
against  the  protest  of  their  father  !  From  the  biography  of  this 
Judge,  and  a  few  of  his  colleagues  in  Utah,  the  reader  may  un- 
derstand the  statements  that  the  Gentiles  were  anxious  for  some 
action  by  Congress  which  should  lessen  the  power  of  these  Pro- 
bate or  County  Judges,  and  bring  all  important  cases  before  the 
U.  S.  District  Judges.  A  few  weeks  before,  I  had  published  a 
severe  criticism  of  this  Judge  Smith.  His  strikers  now  had  me 
at  court  as  defendant,  in  a  town  of  twelve  hundred  Mormons, 


AND   CRIMES   OF   MORMONISM. 


237 


and  only  half  a  dozen  Gentiles  with  me.  About  sundown  I 
started  with  the  crowd  to  pass  out  of  the  Court  House,  and  was 
just  stepping  off  the  portico  when  I  heard  the  words,  "You're 
the  man  that  wrote  that  lie  about  my  father,"  and  at  the  same 
instant  received  a  violent  blow  on  the  back  of  the  neck  and 
head,  which  sent  me  upon  my  face  on  the  gravel  walk.  I  re- 
member nothing  more  than  a  succession  of  blows  followed  by 


THE  AUTHOR  RECEIVES  MOBMON  HOSPITALITY. 

the  trampling  of  heavy  boots,  and  next  I  was  being  raised  by 
my  friends,  covered  with  blood,  and  only  not  quite  senseless. 
I  was  hauled  seven  miles  to  Corinne,  where  a  medical  examina- 
tion showed  that  my  collar-bone  was  broken  in  two  places^  my 
temple  badly  cut,  and  right  eye  injured,  a  section  of  my  scalp 
torn  off,  and  a  few  internal  injuries  received.  I  learned  that  the 
principal  assailant  was  Hyrum  Smith,  son  of  Judge  Smith,  and 


238  POLYGAMY;   OR,   THE   MYSTERIES 

the  Mormons  say  he  was  the  only  one  who  struck  me.  A 
month  later  I  was  able  to  travel,  and  felt  a  powerful  inclination 
to  travel  out  of  Utah. 

Meanwhile  President  Grant  had  completely  revolutionized 
the  official  personnel  in  Utah  ;  an  aggressive  policy  had  been  in- 
augurated; the  mines  had  proved  valuable,  and  the  Gentile 
population  was  rapidly  increasing.  So  I  thought  better  of  it, 
and  returned.  In  May,  1870,  the  Gentiles  of  Corinne  and  vi- 
rinity  sent  me  to  Washington  City  as  their  agent,  to  attend  to 
affairs  of  interest  to  them  before  the  Committees  on  Territories 
and  Public  Lands.  While  there  the  remarkable  Pratt-Newman 
debate  was  projected,  which  deserves  a  separate  chapter. 


AND   CKIMKS   OF    MORMONI8M.  239 


CHAPTER  XIIL 

THE   DEBATE   ON   POLYGAMY. 

Dr.  J.  P.  Newman — Debate  at  long  range — Debate  in  Salt  Lake  City — Exam 
pie  of  the  Israelites — The  author's  observations — Hypocrisy  on  the  subject— 
A  broken  heart — Nameless  horrors— Marries  his  nieces — Marriage  of  half- 
brother  and  sister — Brigham  justifies  incest — Hepworth  Dixon's  testimony 
— Misery  of  women — Infant  mortality — Degradation  of  all — General  effects. 

IN  Washington  City  I  made  the  acquaintance  of  Dr.  J.  P. 
Newman,  Chaplain  of  the  United  States  Senate  at  that  time, 
who  manifested  much  interest  in  Utah  affairs,  and  finally 
preached  a  strong  sermon  against  polygamy,  giving  a  sort  of 
semi-official  assurance  that  the  government  would  soon  abolish 
it.  The  Cullom  Bill,  hereinafter  described,  had  passed  the 
House  and  was  pending  in  the  Senate  with  chances  for  passing 
that  body ;  it  was  morally  certain  that  President  Grant  would 
sign  it  and  support  the  officials,  and  his  intimacy  with  Chap- 
lain Newman  made  the  latter's  views  of  still  more  importance. 
So  the  Salt  Lake  papers  criticized  the  sermon  sharply,  and  the 
Herald  of  that  city  challenged  the  doctor  to  come  to  Salt  Lake 
and  discuss  the  question :  "  Does  the  Bible  sanction  a  plurality 
of  wives?" 

Assuming  that  the  challenge  was  from  Brigham  Young,  the 
doctor  promptly  published  his  acceptance,  and  in  July  went 
with  a  considerable  party  to  Salt  Lake.  Brigham  emphatically 
disclaimed  the  challenge  for  himself,  but  put  up  Orson  Pratt  as 
his  champion,  and  after  a  good  deal  of  haggling  the  terms  were 
arranged,  and  the  debate  came  off.  It  was  a  three-days  affair, 
one  hour  to  each  disputant  daily,  give  and  take,  go  as  you 
please ;  and,  as  might  have  been  expected,  resulted  in  a  good 
deal  of  sparring,  and  some  ill-feeling.  It  always  appeared  to 
iae  like  a  huge  burlesque.  Why  not  argue  the  morality  and 


240  POLYGAMY. 

expediency  of  circumcision,  slaughtering  the  heathen,  or  any 
other  of  the  forty  things  done  by  the  ancient  Jews?  If  a  man 
once  admits  that  that  people  were  for  our  example,  he  involves 
himself  in  a  tangle  from  which  no  logic  can  extricate  him. 

There  are  some  things  that  a  civilized  man  ought  to  know 
by  nature ;  if  he  does  not  know  them,  no  argument  you  can  use 
will  ever  reach  down  to  him.  He  ought  to  know  that  the  free, 
honestly  sought  love  of  one  good  woman  is  a  thousand  times 
more  valuable  than  the  constrained  embraces  of  fifty ;  and  if  he 
does  not  know  it,  why  waste  time  in  arguments  which  he  can- 
not understand  ?  Solomon,  after  possessing  for  many  years  a 
thousand  women,  thus  gives  in  his  experience:  "One  man 
among  a  thousand  have  I  found,  but  a  woman  among  all  these 
have  I  not  found.  .  .  .  And  I  find  more  bitter  than  death  the 
woman  whose  heart  is  snares  and  nets.  .  .  .  Live  joyfully  with 
the  wife  whom  thou  lovest,  all  the  days  of  thy  life,  of  thy  vanity 
given  thee  under  the  sun." — Eedt'#)<i#i»x. 

And  Brigham  Young,  with  two  houses  full  of  women,  says 
in  one  of  his  sermons,  "  If  polygamy  is  any  harder  on  them 
(the  women)  than  it  is  on  the  men,  God  help  them." 

The  general  summary  to  my  mind  is,  that  the  polygamist  is 
truly  to  be  pitied,  having  robbed  himself  of  a  pure  pleasure  to 
add  a  little  (perhaps?)  to  his  pleasures  of  sense.  The  doctor, 
as  I  thought  and  urged  upon  him  beforehand,  gave  away  his 
case  wrhen  he  consented  to  consider  the  ancient  Jews  as  our  ex- 
ample. The  Jews  began  as  a  nation  of  slaves  to  a  nation  of 
idolaters ;  as  the  slave  is  inferior  to  the  master,  so  were  they  in- 
ferior to  a  nation  which  worshipped  gods  of  toads,  flies,  and  all 
the  hideous  monsters  of  the  Nile.  From  this  abject  position 
the  Jews  were  brought  out  for  a  special  purpose  and  an  excep- 
tional career.  They  borrowed  without  intent  to  pay;  they 
robbed  and  plundered  all  with  whom  they  came  in  contact,  and 
satisfied  their  consciences  by  keeping  the  dead  letter  of  a  treaty, 
when  grossly  violating  its  spirit.  They  inveigled  Canaanites 
into  their  camp  and  massacred  them  ;  they  turned  cities  and 
valleys  into  reeking  slaughter-pens ;  they  cut  off  the  fingers  and 
toes  of  captive  kings,  and  drove  harrows  over  the  common  peo- 


A  MORMON'S  DAUGHTER  PLEADING  TO  BE  SAVED  FROM  POLYGAMY. 


16 


(241) 


242  POLYGAMY;   OR,    THE    MYSTERIES 


pie ;  they  reduced  women  and  children  to  the  most  abject  slav- 
ery, and  by  their  own  statement,  exterminated  whole  nations 
at  God's  command. 

The  Almighty  only  permitted  their  polygamy  ;  he  commanded 
them  to  massacre  the  heathen.  If  their  permitted  polygamy  be 
an  example  to  us,  how  much  more  their  commanded  war  upon 
unbelievers.  Surely  these  things  were  not  written  for  our  ex- 
ample. If  the  Mormons  were  serious  in  taking  the  Jews  as 
their  model,  then  would  they  become  of  logical  necessity  the 
common  enemies  of  the  human  race,  and  deserve  utter  exter- 
mination. Or  shall  we  take  the  boasted  examples  of  the  Patri- 
archs? Abraham's  wife  was  his  half-sister,  his  "second"  a 
colored  woman ;  he  practised  polygamy,  and  drove  away  his 
concubine  and  her  child  to  die  in  the  wilderness ;  he  swore 
falsely  in  Egypt  when  it  suited  his  purpose,  and  stoocl  ready  to 
slay  his  son  Isaac.  Neither  act  is  condemned  in  express  words 
by  Moses ;  the  last  was  expressly  commanded.  Polygamy  being 
right,  wife  and  child  desertion  were  right;  and  d  fortiori,  human 
sacrifice  more  than  right.  Lot  debauched  his  own  daughters ; 
Judah  committed  incest  with  his  daughter-in-law;  Jacob  de- 
ceived and  cheated  his  father-in-Jaw ;  Simeon  and  Levi  massa- 
cred the  people  of  an  entire  town,  by  the  basest  treachery, 
trading  in  their  sister's  dishonor  to  accomplish  it.  Nice  people 
these  to  serve  as  models  for  Christians  in  this  nineteenth  cen- 
tury !  These  things  are  no  more  condemned  in  the  mere  his- 
torical record  than  is  polygamy.  Are  they  therefore  guides  to 
us?  The  devil  knows  too  much  to  be  the  author  of  such  a 
doctrine:  it  is  the  child  of  Mormonism. 

The  learned  doctor,  of  course,  was  rather  more  orthodox  on 
the  point  of  Hebrew  morals  than  this  writer,  and  constructed  u 
very  able  argument,  one  which  Pratt  certainly  did  not  answer. 
But  as  Pratt  could  show  that  the  ancient  worthies  practiced 
polygamy,  and  Newman  could  not  show  that  God  condemned  it, 
the  Mormons  raised  a  great  cry  of  triumph  and  straightway 
published  the  whole  debate  as  a  campaign  document.  The 
Methodist  church  had  now  "  recognized "  them,  and  so  they 
were  almost  respectable;  the  ecclesiastical  primate,  so  to  speak. 


AND   CRIMES   OF    MORMONISM. 


243 


had  occupied  their  pulpit  and  had  not  proved  to  their  satisfac- 
tion that  they  were  wrong.  The  outcome  was  nothing  to  brag 
of.  And  now,  having  given  the  clergy  their  due  notice,  the 
reader  is  requested  to  allow  the  author  to  state  the  case  as  he 
views  it  from  a  purely  secular,  historical  and  social  standpoint. 
Polygamy,  as  it  exists  in  Utah,  is  a  bloody  comedy.  To  the 
victim  it  is  often  most  abject  misery;  to  the  on-looking  Gentile 
it  presents  so  many  ludicrous  features  that  he  often  laughs  when 
conscience  tells  him  he  would  better  cry.  As  for  instance, 
when  one  hears  women,  apparently  sane,  talking  about  going 
into  polygamy  to  be  "  exalted  in  heaven ; "  or  of  a  mother 
urging  her  daughter  to  marry  some  portly  old  frog  of  an  elder, 


THE  NEGLECTED  WIFE.   THE  NEW  WIFE. 


while  the  daughter  begs  with  streaming  eyes  to  be  saved  from 
polygamy — then  consents!  All  our  ideas  about  home,  society 
and  provision  for  a  wife  are  so  thoroughly  interwoven  with  the 
monogamic  idea  that  our  fancy  presents  a  thousand  curious 
details  as  to  how  all  this  would  work  when  applied  to  two  or 
more  instead  of  one.  All  our  poetry,  sentimental  writing, 
dramatic  composition,  even  our  little  parlor  games,  all  have  for 
their  key-note  the  idea  of  one  man  loving  one  woman.  So 


244  POLYGAMY;     OR,    THE    MYSTERIES 

when  the  humorous  or  sarcastic  writer  takes  all  the  fine  phrases 
of  amatory  literature  and  applies  them  to  polygamy,  ten  thou- 
sand funny  combinations  are  evolved ;  and  I  have  no  doubt 
much  of  the  insane  hatred  with  which  the  Mormons  regarded 
us  rose  from  the  merciless  slang  and  sarcasm  in  which  Gentiles 
indulged  over  their  marriage  system. 

But  occasionally  comedy  and  tragedy  are  united,  as  in  the 
case  of  Bishop  Smith,  married  to  two  of  his  cousins  and  two  of 
his  nieces ;  or  in  that  of  the  elder  at  Sandy  Station,  who  has  a 
mother  and  daughter  for  wives,  both  mothers  of  his  children, 
the  whole  brood  living  together  in  a  little  cabin.  In  the 
southern  part  of  Utah  may  be  seen  two  towns  without  parallels 
in  America:  Taylorsville  and  \Vinnville.  Two  worthy  Mor- 
mon patriarchs,  Elder  Taylor  and  Elder  Winn,  have  each  taken 
numerous  wives,  and  each  of  their  sons  has  done  the  same. 
The  result  is  two  villages,  in  one  of  which  all  the  inhabitants 
are  Taylors,  and  in  the  other  all  Winns.  The  Taylors  have 
been  the  better  Saints,  and  outnumber  the  others  two  to  one, 
which  is  very  disheartening  to  the  Winns.  Old  man  Winu  is 
reported  to  have  said,  to  an  official  who  visited  him  not  long 
ago,  that  life  to  him  was  but  a  weary  desert,  and  at  times  he 
felt  like  fainting  by  the  wayside.  At  other  times  he  declared 
that  never  more  would  he  go  through  the  Endowment  House 
and  take  another  young  wife,  "  for  that  old  Taylor  can  just  nat- 
urally raise  two  children  to  my  one." 

The  history  of  Mormon  polygamy,  from  its  origin  to  1846. 
has  been  given;  for  the  Mormon  account  that  it  originated  in 
the  revelation  of  July  12,  1843,  is  a  self-evident  falsehood. 
But  there  is  a  fine  garniture  of  delicate  lying  and  intrigue  about 
that  revelation  which  is  worth  examination.  Mormon  history 
relates  that  when  the  full  force  of  the  new  covenant  was  perceived 
the  Prophet  was  filled  with  astonishment  and  dread.  All  the 
traditions  of  his  early  education  were  overthrown,  and  yet  he 
felt  that  it  was  the  work  of  the  Lord.  In  vain  he  sought  to 
be  released  from  the  burden  of  communicating  the  new  doctrine 
to  the  world,  and  at  length  obtained  permission  to  keep  it 
secret,  as  yet,  from  all  but  the  Twelve  Apostles,  and  a  few  other 
leading  men. 


AND   CRIMES   OF    MOKMON1SM.  245 

These  pretended  forebodings  were  fully  justified  by  the  event, 
for,  in  spite  of  the  secresy  maintained,  the  matter  was  soon 
bruited  abroad,  and  there  was  fearful  commotion  in  Zion. 
Old  Mormons  have  told  me  that  when  they  first  heard  it  they 
were  horror-stricken  at  the  thought,  and  for  years  after  could 
not  believe  the  report. 

Eliza  Rigdon,  daughter  of  Sidney,  was  one  of  the  many 
women  who  denounced  Joseph  Smith  for  attempted  seduction. 
Another  young  lady  of  Nauvoo,  of  good  family,  with  great 
beauty  and  many  accomplishments,  informed  her  parents  that 
the  Prophet  had  approached  her  in  the  same  way  ;  yet  such  was 
their  fanaticism  that  it  is  said  they  denounced  their  own 
daughter  as  "  possessed  of  a  lying  devil."  Polygamy  and  parental 
cruelty  together  crushed  her,  and  it  is  said  she  literally  died  of 
a  broken  heart.  Sidney  Rigdon  also  brought  forward  his  own 
doctrine  of  spiritual  marriage,  which  is  reported  by  old  Mor- 
mons to  have  been  substantially  as  follows:  In  the  pre-existent 
state  souls  are  mated,  male  and  female,  as  it  is  divinely  intended 
they  shall  fill  the  marriage  relation  in  this  life;  or,  in  more 
poetic  phrase,  "marriages  are  made  in  heaven."  But  in  the 
general  jumble  of  contradictious  and  cross-purposes  attending 
man  in  this  state,  many  mistakes  have  been  made  in  this  matter; 
A  has  got  the  woman  first  intended  for  B,  the  latter  has  got 
C's  true  mate,  and  thus  on,  utterly  defeating  the  counsel  of  the 
gods  in  the  pre-marriage  of  the  spirits.  But  the  time  had  come 
for  all  this  to  be  set  right,  and  though  they  might  not  put  aside 
their  present  wives,  which  would  throw  society  somewhat  out 
of  gear,  yet  Smith  might  in  addition  exercise  the  privileges  of 
husband  toward  Brown's  wife  and  vice  versa.  This  seems  to 
have  been  merely  the  Mormon  version  of  modern  "free  love- 
ism,"  and  from  recent  evidence  it  is  quite  probable  it  also  was 
practised  to  some  extent  in  Nauvoo,  thus  making  polygamy 
equally  free  to  men  and  women  ;  but  it  is  quite  different,  in 
theory  at  least,  from  the  present  "spiritual  wifeism"  of  the 
Mormons,  as  will  presently  appear. 

As  the  first  open  hints  of  the  new  doctrine,  in  the  autumn  of 
1843,  excited  so  much  contention,  and  as  the  indignation  of  the 


246  POLYGAMY. 

people  "of  Illinois  was  justly  feared,  orders  were  given  to  all  the 
travelling  elders  to  persistently  deny  the  doctrine.  On  the  first 
of  February,  1844,  the  Times  and  Seasons,  church  paper  at 
.Nauvoo,  contained  the  following* 

"  XOTICE  ! 

"As  we  have  lately  been  credibly  informed,  that  an  Elder  of 
the  Church  of  Jesus  Christ  of  Latter-Day  Saints,  by  the  name 
of  Hyrum  Brown,  has  been  preaching  Polygamy,  and  other 
false  and  corrupt  doctrines,  in  the  County  of  Lapeer,  and  Stato 
of  Michigan  : 

"This  is  to  notify  him  and  the  Church  in  general,  that  he 
has  been  cut  off  from  the  Church  for  his  iniquity;  and  he  is 
further  notified  to  appear  at  the  Special  Conference,  on  the  6th 
of  April  next,  to  make  answer  to  these  charges. 

"  JOSEPH  SMITH, 
HYRUM  SMITH, 
"Presidents  of  il,.  Chunk." 

This  was  seven  months  after  the  revelation  authorizing 
polygamy.  Six  weeks  afterwards  Hyrum  found  it  necessary  to 
write  as  follow-  : 


••  NAT-YO-.. 

"To  the  Brethren  of  the  Church  of  Jesus  Christ  of  Latter-Day 

»/>/,/>,  lirin'j  o»  China  Creek,  in    Jl<inc<><-k  County,  Greeting: 

"  Whereas,  Brother  Richard  Hewett  ha>  railed  on  me  to-day, 
to  know  my  views  concerning  some  doctrines  that  are  preached 
in  your  place,  and  states  to  me  that  some  of  your  Elders  say, 
that  a  man,  having  a  certain  priesthood,  may  have  as  many 
wives  as  he  pleases,  and  that  doctrine  is  taught  here  :  I  say  unto 
you  that  that  man  teaches  false  doctrine,  for  there  is  no  such 
doctrine  taught  here,  neither  is  there  any  such  thing  practised 
here;  and  any  man  that  is  found  teaching  privately  or  publicly 
any  such  doctrine  is  culpable,  and  will  stand  a  chance  to  be 
brought  before  the  High  Council,  and  lose  his  license  and 
membership  also;  therefore  he  had  better  beware  what  he  is 
about." 


POLYGAMY  CRUSHED  HER  YOUNG  HEART.' 


(247). 


1248  POLYGAMY;    OK,   THE    MYSTERIES 

At  the  time  these  documents  were  written  Joseph  and  Hyrum 
were  both  living  in  polygamy.  After  their  death  the  Church 
was  more  zealous  than  ever  in  denying  the  existence  of 
polygamy,  or  any  other  system  of  marriage  except  that  common 
to  all  Christians.  Every  Mormon  paper  denounced  the  charge ; 
every  Mormon  Missionary  swore  vehemently  that  no  such  prac- 
tice was  permitted  in  the  church.  In  July,  1845,  Parley  P. 
Pratt  published  a  card  in  which  he  denounced  it  as  a  "doctrine 
of  devils  and  seducing  spirits;  but  another  name  for  whoredom, 
wicked  and  unlawful  connection,  and  every  kind  of  corruption, 
confusion  and  abomination;"  and  in  the  following  year  the 
General  Conference  of  Europe  denounced  both  the  doctrine  and 
practice  in  the  strongest  terms.  In  May,  1848,  the  Millennial 
Star  called  for  the  vengeance  of  heaven  on  all  the  liars  who 
charged  "such  odious  practices  as  spiritual  wifeism  and  polyg- 
ism"  upon  the  Church;  ending  with  the  following: 

"In  all  ages  of  the  Church  truth  has  been  turned  into  a  lie, 
and  the  grace  of  God  converted  into  lasciviousness,  by  men  who 
have  sought  to  make  'a  gain  of  godliness/  and  feed  their  lusts 

on  the  credulity  of  the  righteous  and  unsuspicious 

Xext  to  the  long-hackneyed  and  bug- a- boo  whisperings  of 
polygism  is  another  abomination  that  sometimes  shows  its  ser- 
pentine crests,  which  we  shall  call  sexual  resurrectionism. 
.  .  .  .  The  doctrines  of  corrupt  spirits  are  always  in  close 
affinity  with  each  other,  whether  they  consist  in  spiritual  wife- 
ism,  sexual  resurrection,  gross  lasciviousuess,  or  the  unavoid- 
able separation  of  husbands  and  wives,  or  the  communism  of 
property." 

In  July,  1850,  Elder  John  Taylor  held  a  discussion  at 
Boulogne,  France,  with  three  English  clergymen.  They 
quoted  from  the  anti-Mormon  works  published  by  J.  C.  Ben- 
nett and  J.  B.  Bowes,  which  charged  polygamy  as  a  practice 
of  the  Church;  to  which  Taylor  made  the  following  reply: 
"We  are  accused  hereof  polygamy,  and  actions  the  most  in- 
delicate, obscene  and  disgusting,  such  that  none  but  a  corrupt 
heart  could  have  contrived.  These  things  are  too  outrageous 
to  admit  of  belief.  Therefore,  leaving  the  sisters  of  the  'white 


AND   CRIMES   OF   MORMONISM.  249 

veil'  and  the  ' black  veil/  and  all  the  other  veils  with  those  gen- 
tlemen to  dispose  of,  together  with  their  authors,  as  they  think 
best,  I  shall  content  myself  by  reading  our  views  of  chastity 
and  marriage  from  a  work  published  by  us,  containing  some 
of  the  articles  of  our  faith."  He  then  read  from  the  "Doctrines 
and  Covenants"  which  was  adopted  in  full  conference  the  year 
after  Smith's  death,  the  following : 

"4.  .  .  .  Inasmuch  as  this  Church  of  Christ  has  been 
reproached  with  the  crime  of  fornication  and  polygamy;  we 
declare  that  we  believe  that  one  man  should  have  one  wife; 
and  one  woman  but  one  husband,  except  in  case  of  death,  when 
either  is  at  liberty  to  marry  again." 

The  italics  are  my  own.  As  a  specimen  of  Mormon  reason- 
ing, it  may  here  be  added,  they  now  insist  that  in  the  above 
clause  "one  wife"  really  meant  of  course  "one  or  more;"  that 
the  adversative  "but"  was  added  in  case  of  the  woman  to  cut 
off  any  such  free  rendering  in  her  case,  and  that  the  clause  was 
so  worded  "to  specially  deceive  the  Gentiles  and  yet  tell  the 
exact  truth."  They  further  add  that,  "under  certain  circum- 
stances the  Lord  allows  His  priesthood  to  lie  in  order  to  save 
His  people;  it  would  not  do  to  give  strong  meat  to  little  chil- 
dren ;  they  must  first  be  fed  with  milk,  and  when  they  get 
stronger  they  can  have  meat :  so  with  the  truth,  they  must  be 
taught  it  little  at  a  time." 

The  foreign  Mormons  were  thus  kept  in  perfect  ignorance 
of  the  matter,  and  were  highly  indignant  when  the  charge  was 
made;  still,  as  it  was  practiced,  reports  of  it  were  constantly 
made  and  generally  believed  throughout  the  United  States. 
Brigham  Young  soon  became  head  of  the  Church,  and  took 
for  his  second  wife  Lucy  Decker  Seely,  who  had  previously 
been  divorced  from  Doctor  Seely.  Not  long  after,  at  their 
winter  quarters  near  Council  Bluffs,  Iowa,  he  married  Harriet 
Cook,  whose  sou,  Oscar  Young,  is  the  first  child  in  polygamy. 
Soon  after  the  Saints  were  safe  in  Utah,  where  it  seemed  that 
"Gentiles,  their  laws  and  mobs  would  annoy  no  more;"  and 
the  necessity  for  concealment  no  longer  existed.  So  the  doc- 
trine was  more  and  more  openly  discussed,  and  finally,  on  the 


250  POLYGAMY;   OR,    THE   MY8TKRTE8 

29th  of  August,  1852,  it  was  publicly  announced  by  Brigham 
Young  in  a  meeting  at  Salt  Lake  City,  where  the  revelation 
was  for  the  first  time  publicly  read  and  pronounced  valid.  The 
sermons  in  its  favor,  by  Orson  Pratt  and  Brigham  Young,  were 
first  published,  together  with  the  revelation,  in  the  Deserct 
News,  Extra,  of  September  14th,  1852.  From  Young's  ad- 
dress I  extract  the  following: 

"You  heard  Brother  Pratt  state,  this  morning,  that  a  revela- 
tion would  be  read  this  afternoon,  which  was  given  previous  to 
Joseph's  (loath.  It  contains  a  doctrine  a  small  portion  of  the 
world  is  opposed  to;  but  I  can  deliver  a  prophecy  upon  it. 
Though  that  doctrine  has  not  been  preached  by  the  Elders,  this 
people  have  believed  in  it  for  years.  The  original  copy  of  this 
revelation  was  burnt  up.  William  Clayton  was  the  man  who 
wrote  it  from  the  mouth  of  the  Prophet.  In  the  meantime  it 
was  in  Bishop  Whitney's  possession.  He  wished  the  privilege 
to  copy  it,  which  brother  Joseph  granted.  Sister  Emma  (wife 
of  Joseph  Smith)  burnt  the  original.  The  reason  I  mention 
this  is,  because  that  the  people  who  did  know  of  the  revelation, 
supposed  it  was  not  now  in  existence. 

"The  revelation  will  be  read  to  you.  The  principle  spoken 
upon  by  Brother  Pratt  this  morning,  we  believe  in.  Many 
others  are  of  the  same  mind.  They  are  not  ignorant  of  what 
we  are  doing  in  our  social  capacity.  They  have  cried  out  pro- 
claim it;  but  it  would  not  do  a  few  years  ago;  everything 
must  come  in  its  time;  as  there  is  a  time  for  all  things,  I  am 
now  ready  to  proclaim  it.  This  revelation  has  l>een  in  my 
possession  for  many  years  ;  and  who  has  known  it  ?  Xone  but 
those  who  should  know  it.  I  keep  a  patent  lock  on  my  desk, 
and  there  does  not  anything  leak  out  that  should  not." 

The  people  of  Utah  were  prepared  for  the  announcement, 
but  polygamy  was  too  "  strong  doctrine  "  for  Europe,  and  when 
first  published  there,  in  April,  1853,  it  seemed  that  even  then 
it  would  destroy  the  foreign  Church.  In  England,  especially, 
the  demoralization  was  fearful ;  hundreds  after  hundreds  apos- 
tatized, whole  churches  and  conferences  dissolved ;  talented 
knaves  in  many  instances,  finding  in  this  the  excuse  for  going 


AND    CRIMES    OF    MORMON  ISM.  251 

off  without  surrendering  the  money-bags  which  they  held. 
The  missions  entirely  disappeared  in  many  parts  of  Europe, 
and  even  in  America,  thousands  of  new  converts  who  had  not 
gone  to  "  Zion,"  turned  away  and  joined  the  Josephites,  Glad^ 
denites,  Strangles,  and  other  sects  of  recusant  Mormons. 

The  Millennial  Star  remained  silent  on  the  subject  for  weeks 
after  publishing  the  revelation,  coming  out  at  length  with  a 
feeble  defence  of  the  system,  from  the  pen  of  J.  Jaques,  a  lead- 
ing Mormon  polemic.     The  fact  was  the  people  did  not  under- 
stand the  new  idea,  they  did  not  see  the  spiritual  necessities  for 
it;  they  had  so  far  believed   that  Mormon  ism  was  simply  an 
advance  in  Christianity,  and  could  not  feel  that  "  in  this  the 
fullness  of  time,  the  ancient  covenant  was  restored  with  all  its 
privileges."     But  in   Utah  a  great  rush    was   made  for  new 
wives ;  old  men  traded  for  young  girls,  and  the  new  order  was 
hailed   as  the  great   crowning  joy  and  privilege  of  believers. 
Polygamy  continued  extending  until  that  period   known  as  the 
u  Reformation  "  in  1856-57,  when  the  whole  Church  was  re- 
baptized,  and  a  new  point  of  departure  taken.     Then  the  new 
practice  seemed  for  a  while  to  reach  a  furious  climax  of  un- 
natural and  degrading  obscenity.     The  duty  and  importance 
of  polygamy  were  presented  every  Sunday;  hundreds  of  girls 
of  only  twelve  or  thirteen  years  were  forced  or  persuaded  into 
its  practice;  and  in   numerous  instances  even  younger  girls 
were  "  sealed  "  to  old  reprobates,  with  an  agreement  on  the  part 
of  the  latter  to  wait  until   the  girls  were   more   mature  and 
suited   to  act  the   part  of  wives.     Hundreds  of  instances  oc- 
curred which  would  be  utterly  incredible  at  present  were  they 
not  fully  proved  by  many  authentic  witnesses.     Old   men  met 
openly  in  the  streets  and  traded  daughters,  and  whole  families 
of  girls  were  married  to  the  same  man. 

Polygamy  then  readied  its  worst,  and  divorce  soon  became 
so  common  that  these  marriages  scarcely  amounted  to  more  than 
promiscuous  intercourse.  I  met  one  woman  who  had  been  di- 
vorced and  re-married  six  times,  and  an  old  Mormon  once 
pointed  out  to  me  a  woman  who  had  once  been  his  wife,  and 
had  been  divorced  and  re-married  nine  times.  In  numerous 


252  POLYGAMY;   OR,   THE   MYSTERIES 

instances  a  young  girl  would  be  married  to  some  prominent 
elder,  with  whom  she  would  reside  a  few  months,  after  which 
she  would  be  divorced  and  married  to  another,  and  again  to 
another,  "going  the  rounds/'  as  the  phrase  was,  of  half  a  dozen 
priests.  A  general  demoralization  seemed  to  seize  upon  the 
community;  vulgarity  of  language,  both  in  public  address  and 
private  speech,  became  so  common  that  thousands  of  Mormons 
were  themselves  disgusted,  and  a  reaction  set  in  against  such 
excesses.  It  would  seem  that  Brigham  also  became  alarmed  at 
the  tendency,  and,  as  he  had  been  greatly  annoyed  by  applica- 
tions for  divorce,  commenced  exacting  a  heavy  fee  for  the  ser- 
vice. The  period  of  comparative  starvation  which  followed, 
during  the  winter  of  1856-57,  may  have  had  something  to  do 
with  checking  the  prevailing  tendency,  but  certain  it  is,  there 
has  been  no  such  general  license  since. 

It  is  admitted  that  polygamy  culminated  in  all  its  worst 
features  as  early  as  1857,  since  which  time  it  has  been  slowly 
on  the  decline,  and  even  without  government  interference  would 
hardly  have  endured  much  more  than  another  generation.  In 
these  last  statements  I  am  aware  that  I  differ  from  some  whose 
evidence  carries  the  weight  of  authority,  particularly  Judges 
Drake  and  Titus,  and  some  officials  who  have  lately  testified  before 
Congressional  committees.  Nevertheless,  such  is  my  conclusion 
from  a  mass  of  evidence  given  by  persons  both  in  and  out  of 
the  Mormon  Church,  and  from  a  careful  examination  of  the 
records.  That  polygamy  has  declined  somewhat  in  the  last 
fifteen  years  is  quite  certain,  from  causes  both  within  and  with- 
out the  church ;  it  is  now  almost  impossible  to  induce  a  young 
girl  brought  up  in  Salt  Lake  City,  or  the  northern  settlements, 
to  enter  that  condition,  and  the  instances  of  plural  marriage 
are  confined  almost  entirely  to  young  women  just  brought  from 
Europe. 

Of  their  theology  as  it  relates  to  polygamy,  but  little  need  be 
added.  It  is  so  thoroughly  grafted  into  and  interwoven  with 
their  whole  system,  that  at  no  point  can  one  be  touched  without 
attacking  the  other.  Pre-existence  of  the  soul,  progression  of 
the  gods,  and  all  other  peculiarities  of  the  system,  depend  by  a 


AND   CRIMES   OF    MORMONISM.  258 

thousand  combinations  and  inter-relations  upon  the  plurality 
system.  A  man's  or  woman's  glory  in  eternity  is  to  depend 
upon  the  size  of  the  family ;  for  a  woman  to  remain  childless  is 
a  sin  and  calamity,  and  she  cannot  secure  "  exaltation,"  as  the 
wife  of  a  Gentile  or  an  apostate;  her  husband's  rank  in  eternity 
must  greatly  depend  upon  the  number  of  his  wives,  and  she 
will  share  in  that  glory  whatever  it  is.  All  this  points  unerr- 
ingly to  polygamy.  Hence,  also,  the  last  feature  of  this  com- 
plex and  unnatural  relationship,  known  as  "  spiritual  wives/' 
which  is  to  be  understood  as  follows :  Any  woman,  having  an 
earthly  husband  of  whose  final  exaltation  she  is  in  doubt,  may 
be  sealed  for  eternity  to  some  prominent  Mormon,  who  will 
raise  her  and  make  her  part  of  his  final  kingdom.  In  theory 
this  gives  the  spiritual  husband  no  marital  rights,  but,  as  stated 
by  Elder  John  Hyde,  the  noted  apostate,  "  it  may  well  be 
doubted  whether  the  woman  who  can  prefer  another  man  for 
her  pseudo-eternal  husband,  has  not  fallen  low  enough  to  sin  in 
deed  as  well  as  thought  against  her  earthly  husband/' 

By  "marriage  for  the  dead,"  living  women  are  sealed  to  dead 
men,  and  vice  versa,  some  one  "  standing  proxy "  for  the  de- 
ceased. Thus,  a  widow  and  widower  may  each  prefer  their  first 
partners  "  for  eternity,"  but  like  each  other  well  enough  "  for 
time ; "  in  which  case  they  are  first  sealed  to  each  other  "  for 
time,"  then  each,  by  proxy  for  the  departed,  "  for  eternity," 
thus  requiring  three  separate  ceremonies  to  settle  the  temporal 
and  eternal  relations  of  all  parties,  who  may  in  turn  be  divorced 
from  either  by  Brighain  Young  and  the  probate  courts.  So  a 
man  may  have  a  wife  "  for  time,"  who  belongs  to  some  man 
"already  dead  "  for  eternity,"  in  which  case  all  the  children  will 
belong  to  the  latter  in  eternity,  the  living  man  merely  "  raising 
up  seed  unto  his  dead  brother."  To  such  lengths  of  vain  im- 
aginings may  a  credulous  people  be  led  by  artful  impostors. 

The  worst  period  of  polygamy  has  passed,  but  its  evil  effects 
continue  in  full  force  to  the  present.  At  the  outset  I  meet 
with  a  difficulty  in  describing  its  greatest  evils.  The  virtues 
of  Mormonism  are  all  easily  seen,  while  its  vices  are,  as  much 
as  possible,  hidden,  and  this  is  peculiarly  the  case  with  poly- 


254  POLYGAMY  :    OR,    THK    MYSTERIES 

gamy.  We  can  see  its  evils  in  a  political  point  of  view,  iu  their 
laws,  to  some  extent  in  their  society,  in  the  mixture  of  popula- 
tion and  the  blood  of  near  kindred ;  but  who  can  enter  into  tin- 
penetralia  of  the  affections,  weigh  and  estimate  woman's  an- 
guish, count  the  heart-drops  of  sorrow,  and  say,  here  is  so  much 
misery,  or  there  is  so  much  resignation  ! 

Miss  Sarah  E.  Carmichael,  now  Mrs.  Williamson,  who  was 
reared  at  Salt  Lake,  says :  "  If  I  were  a  man,  as  I  am  a  woman, 
I  would  stand  in  the  halls  of  Congress  and  cry  aloud  for  the 
miserable  women  of  Utah,  till  the  world  should  hear  and  know 
the  wrongs  and  miseries  of  polygamy."  The  Mormons  argue 
that  the  laws  of  nature,  physical  nature,  point  out  polygamy  as 
the  natural  condition.  There  may  be  some  argument  for  it  in 
man's  physical  organization,  but  when  we  come  to  the  soul  and 
mind,  the  mentality  of  woman  points  unerringly  to  monogamy 
as  her  only  possible  state  for  domestic  happiness;  and  any  svs- 
tem  which  attempts  to  establish  unity  in  the  household  by 
dividing  one  man's  care  and  affection  among  two  or  three 
women,  is  founded  upon  a  total  misconception  of  the  sexual 
principle.  Sound  philosophy  shows  us  three  great  objects  of 
marriage :  the  production  and  rearing  of  children  ;  the  forma- 
tion of  a  close  partnership,  common  interest  and  confidential 
intimacy  between  husband  and  wife,  and,  above  all,  the  enjoy- 
ment of  a  pure  affection. 

This  last  is  the  real  happiness  of  marriage,  and  its  very 
essence  is  duality;  a  divided  affection  is  utterly  at  war  with 
"  that  sweet  egotism  of  the  heart  called  love,"  that  divine  sel- 
fishness of  choosing  one  being  apart  from  all  the  world,  perhaps 
the  only  form  in  which  selfishness  is  approved  of  God.  And 
the  object  of  this  principle  is  a  higher  development  of  the  whole 
man,  male  and  female;  this  is  the  most  noble  object  of  the  mar- 
riage relation,  and  by  this  alone  is  it  sanctified.  Can  the  wildest 
fanaticism  or  most  earnest  sophistry  claim  that  aught  of  this 
can  be  found  in  the  polygaraic  order?  The  Mormon  is  but 
one-third  married ;  he  has  in  such  unions  provided  for  but  one- 
third,  and  that  the  lowest,  basest  part  of  his  nature.  But,  it 
may  be  said,  this  hi-t  i<  only  a  theory.  Let  us  then  briefly  ex- 


AND   CRIMES   OF    MORMONISM,  255 

amine  a  few  facts.  That  this  indication  is  to  be  followed  rather 
than  the  other,  is  abundantly  shown  by  a  comparative  view  of 
polygamous  and  monogamous  nations.  The  savage  Indian  and 
African  know  nothing  of  the  softer  sentiments  which  make  life 
amiable  and  agreeable;  to  them  woman  is  merely  a  superior 
beast  of  burden ;  they  can  purchase  as  many  wives  as  their 
means  command,  and  are,  by  nature,  habit  and  religion,  thor- 
ough-going polygamists.  Coming  a  little  higher,  to  the  par- 
tially civilized  races,  we  find  a  great  improvement,  but  nothing 
like  Christian  ideas. 

In  the  march  of  progress,  these  nations  are  fast  falling  behind 
and  sinking  beneath  the  hardy  vigor  of  Western  Christian?. 
History  scarcely  records  an  instance  where  an  organized  nation 
of  monogamists  has  fallen  before  polygamists.  The  monogamic 
Greeks,  with  a  little  army  of  forty  thousand  men,  overran  all 
the  proud  empires  of  Southern  Asia;  the  effeminate  Persians 
and  Hindoos  could  not  stand  before  the  hardy  valor  of  that 
people,  who  held,  as  a  fixed  principle,  that  the  dignity  of 
woman  is  the  strength  of  the  State.  Monogamic  Rome  com- 
pleted what  Greece  had  begun,  in  destroying  the  power  of  the 
Western  Asiatics.  For  six  hundred  years  the  honor  and  dig- 
nity of  the  Roman  matron  were  the  subjects  of  unwearied  praise, 
till  Rome  herself  was  corrupted  by  the  nations  she  had  con- 
quered. The  reign  of  the  first  Asiatic,  who  wore  the  Imperial 
purple,  marks  the  beginning  of  a  great  decline,  and  Rome,  in 
turn,  fell  before  the  hardy  monogamists  of  Northern  Europe. 
The  Mohammedans  easily  overran  Asia  and  Northern  Africa, 
but  in  Europe  their  course  was  soon  checked.  The  hosts  of 
Abderahman  melted  like  snow  before  the  stout  arms  of  the 
German  nations,  who  left  the  plains  of  Poictiers  covered  with 
the  corpses  of  three  hundred  thousand  polygamists. 

But  it  may  be  said  these  comparisons  are  unfair,  as  setting 
civilized  nations  against  semi-barbarians.  But  this  fact  makes 
a  better  comparison  impossible,  that  the  lowest  nation  of  mo- 
nogamists is  far  above  the  highest  of  polygamists.  The  white 
inhabitants  of  Utah  are  the  only  branch  of  the  Caucasian  race 
that  has  adopted  polygamy  within  many  hundred  years.  Of 


POLYGAMY;    OR,   THE    MYSTERIES 

course  we  should  look  for  certain  results  there,  and  if  not  seen 
at  once,  many  would  conclude  that  Utah  was  an  exception  to 
the  general  rule.  But  it  is  to  be  remembered  that  polygamy 
has  been  practiced  among  them  less  than  forty  years.  Never- 
theless it  has  shown  a  marked  and  rapid  tendency  towards  evil ; 
and  in  many  of  its  features  probably  worse  than  in  any  Mo- 
hammedan country. 

The  first  result  to  be  noted  is  a  universal,  and  worse  than 
Moslem  jealousy,  both  among  men  and  women.  I  have  the 
testimony  of  dozens,  brought  up  in  the  midst  of  the  system,  and 
several  of  them  children  of  second  wives,  that  such  a  thing  as 
a  harmonious  family  of  many  wives  is  unknown  in  their  ac- 
quaintance. Others  say  there  are  such,  but  all  admit  they  are 
rare.  I  am  speaking  now  of  the  women  and  young  people's 
testimony ;  the  men  will  often  claim  the  contrary,  even  when 
their  own  families  disprove  it.  Among  my  acquaintances  in 
Salt  Lake  City  was  a  young  lady,  who  was  the  daughter  of  a 
second  wife,  whose  history  illustrated  this  matter  very  forcibly. 
Her  mother  had  lived  in  polygamy  for  fifteen  years,  and  finally 
become  convinced  that  it  was  as  .sinful  as  she  had  found  it 
miserable. 

The  troubles  of  her  mind  brought  on  a  mortal  sickness,  when 
she  called  her  daughter  to  her  bedside,  and  told  her  that  she 
had  lived  in  misery,  and  was  dying  without  hope ;  that  she  was 
now  convinced  of  her  sin,  and  only  desired  her  daughter  to 
escape  from  it.  The  daughter  as  required,  took  a  solemn  oath 
never  to  enter  polygamy.  The  mother  told  her  to  be  firm,  and 
her  mother's  spirit  would  protect  her.  Soon  after  she  died,  and 
the  daughter  left  her  father's  house,  at  the  age  of  fourteen,  to 
reside  with  a  relative  who  had  apostatized,  and  though  twice 
taken  back,  was  finally  permitted  to  live  there  unmolested. 
The  father  stood  high  in  the  Mormon  church,  and  had  four 
wives.  During  the  first  month  of  my  stay  in  Salt  Lake  City, 
the  second  wife  of  a  well-known  Mormon  left  him,  and  went  to 
work  in  a  hotel.  After  a  short  stay  there,  she  took  her  child 
and  started  to  Montana,  when  the  husband  took  out  a  writ  of 
corpus  for  the  child  ;  the  sheriff  overtook  her  thirty 


AND   CKIMES   OF    MOKMONISM.  257 

miles  north,  when,  seeing  him  coming,  she  ran  for  the  moun- 
tains, distant  half  a  mile.  She  was  overtaken  and  the  child 
torn  away  from  her,  and  brought  to  the  city,  which,  of  course, 
induced  the  mother  to  return.  She  was  going  with  some  emi- 
grants who  dared  not  assist  her,  for  fear  of  Mormon  vengeance. 

Instances  of  like  nature  might  be  cited  at  will ;  and  it  is  only 
too  plain,  that  the  system  results  in  the  utter  destruction  of 
domestic  love  and  harmony.  The  Mormons  themselves  hesi- 
tatingly acknowledge,  that  the  "thing  called  love  among  the 
Gentiles  "  cannot  exist  under  their  system ;  but  claim  that  they 
have  instead,  a  purer  feeling  of  respect,  support  and  friendship. 
Hence,  it  is  quite  the  custom  among  the  Mormon  leaders,  to 
speak  of  domestic  affection  and  endearments  with  a  sort  of 
sneer,  or  as  something  to  be  but  rarely  indulged  in,  and  rather 
unworthy  of  the  manly  character. 

The  Mormons  claim  that  a  man  may  love  equally  half  a 
dozen  women,  as  well  as  a  mother  may  the  same  number  of 
children,  and  that  the  women  are  satisfied  with  this  divided 
affection ;  but  that  this  is  not,  and  never  can  be  the  case,  I 
need  say  to  no  one  who  has  the  slightest  knowledge  of  the 
female  heart.  For  a  man  to  love  six  women  equally  well,  is 
manifestly  impossible;  but  it  is  possible  for  him  to  be  equally 
indifferent  to  all.  And  to  this  does  the  teaching  of  the  leaders 
directly  tend ;  rather  than  create  a  jealousy,  or  show  a  marked 
preference  for  one,  they  are  to  cultivate  a  mere  equal  respect  for 
all.  Nor  is  it  often  possible  for  a  man,  whose  care  and  affec- 
tion are  divided  between  three  or  four  women  of  varying 
charms  and  tempers,  to  regard  equally  the  children  of  all ;  if 
he  have  common  affection,  the  most  affectionate  child  will 
become  his  favorite,  and  engross  his  attention ;  and  thus  jeal- 
ousy, far  from  being  confined  to  adults,  rages  equally  in  the 
bosoms  of  the  young.  This  is  seen  and  noticed  in  almost  every 
family,  and  the  story  of  Jacob's  partiality,  and  his  children's 
jealousy,  is  repeated  every  day  in  the  year.  So  greatly  do 
these  troubles  multiply  in  the  larger  families,  that  in  spite  of 
their  inclination  to  secrecy,  the  parents  are  forced  in  bitterness 
of  soul  to  make  known  their  grievances. 
17 


258  POLYGAMY. 

In  one  sermon,  preached  while  I  was  at  Salt  Lake,  Brigham 
Young  made  this  remark  :  *'  The  women  are  every  day  com- 
plaining of  what  they  have  to  suffer  in  plurality.  If  it's  any 
harder  on  them  than  it  is  <>n  the  men,  God  help  them.  Many 
of  them  seem  to  think  a  man  in  plurality  has  nothing  to  do  but 
listen  to  their  troubles,  nnd  run  at  their  beck  and  call.  I 
believe  I  have  wives  that  would  see  me  damned  rather  than 
not  get  every  little  furbelow  they  want.7' 

But  the  smaller  families  are  happy  in  comparison,  and  it  is 
within  the  walls  of  the  larger  harems,  according  to  all  report-. 
that  the  demon  of  jealousy  reigns  supreme.  Female  nurse?  "t 
Salt  Lake  say  that  it  is  no  uncommon  thing,  in  the  better  cla» 
of  polygamous  household.-,  for  a  child  to  be  born  to  one  wife 
and  all  the  others  to  remain  sullenly  in  their  room>,  unless 
specially  called,  apparently  without  interest  or  concern  tor  the 
iv-ult.  At  first  view  it  seems  incredible  that  any  woman 
>hould  be  indifferent  under  such  circumstances;  and  yet  we  can 
readily  understand  that  a  woman"  would  be  far  from  pleased  at 
the  birth  of  a  child  which  was  her  husband's,  bu-t  not  hers. 
From  the  torment  of  such  feelings  there  is  no  refuge  but  in  a 
cultivated  indifference,  and  such  seems  to  be  the  ideal  of  all 
thorough  Mormons  in  domestic  matters.  This,  which  is  a 
necessity  as  between  the  women,  seems  to  extend  also  to  the 
children  and  become  a  habit  of  which  the  subject  is  quite  un- 
conscious. I  have  heard  chance  expressions  uttered  by  men 
who  had  just  buried  a  child,  which  showed  too  plainly  a  brutal 
indifference  to  its  death. 

In  the  best  of  families  there  are  causes  enough  for  trouble: 
the  husband  cannot  always  feel  alike,  the  wife  is  too  often 
weary  and  nervous,  the  children  at  times  seem  possessed  with 
the  very  demon  of  unrest.  But  with  the  one  wife  and  one  hus- 
band there  always  comes  an  hour  of  cool  reflection  ;  if  possessed 
of  common  sense,  either  can  readily  allow  for  the  other's  weak- 
ness and  reconciliation  is  easy  because  the  trouble  is  easilv 
traced  to  its  true  cause — a  mere  physical  depression.  But  in 
polygamy  there  is  one  black  demon  ever  ready  to -jump  into 
activity:  she  does  not  say,  u  His  busin^  worries  him,"  or, 


'I  PROMISED  TO  SPEND  THE  EVENING  WITH  MY  OTHEB  WIFE." 

(369) 


260 

"  Poor  fellow,  he  has  to  work  so  hard,  no  wonder  he  is  some- 
times cross."  Her  first  thought  is,  "  It's  thai  woman !  If  it 
wasn't  for  that  little  huzzy — ."  And  he  thinks,  not  that  she  is 
nervous,  or  that  she  is  kept  in  the  house  too  much  by  the 
child,  his  child ;  but  his  first  thought  is,  "  She's  mad  about  my 
other  wife !  The  blamed  women  are  never  satisfied."  And  in 
such  a  weak  and  nervous  state,  holding  perhaps  a  sickly  baby 
in  her  wearied  arms,  the  poor  wife  receives  this  bit  of  comfort 
from  her  young  husband :  "  I  promised  to  spend  the  night  with 
my  other  wife ! "  Can  any  religion  prevent  that  home  being  a 
hell  to  that  woman  after  such  a  good-night? 

Nor  do  the  men  escape.  Reticence,  determined  reticence,  is 
the  polygamist's  best  policy ;  or  as  Quincy  Knowlton  said  in 
one  ot  his  confidential  moments,  speaking  of  his  wives :  "  It 
sounds  very  nice  when  the  priesthood  preach  about  it,  but  when 
a  man  stands  behind  the  door  and  grits  his  teeth  to  keep  out  of 
a  fuss,  the  poetry  goes."  Brigham  Young,  aside  from  the  mere 
animal  fervor  which  distinguished  him,  was  among  the  coldest 
of  men.  According  to  one  who  knew  his  habits,  he  usually 
slept  alone,  in  a  small  room  behind  his  office ;  and  a  woman  who 
lived  many  years  in  his  family,  tells  me  she  saw  him  caress  or 
pet  but  one  of  his  children.  In  speaking  to  one  of  my  Mormon 
acquaintances,  Brigham  gave  the  following  as  his  idea  of  fatherly 
duty :  "  1  pay  no  attention  to  the  children,  but  leave  that  to 
their  mothers,  according  to  the  law  of  nature.  The  bull  pays 
no  attention  to  his  calves." 

In  this  sentence  is  embodied  the  social  perfection  of  polygamy, 
as  it  will  be  "  when  the  Lord  has  healed  the  Saints  of  all  their 
old  GentiJish  traditions."  The  question  will,  of  course,  be 
asked:  Are  the  Mormon  women  happy?  It  must  be  remem- 
bered that  only  one-third  or  one-fourth  of  all  the  women  in 
Utah  are  in  polygamy,  either  as  first  or  subsequent  wives ;  and, 
as  to  the  rest,  there  is  no  particular  cause  for  unhappiness  from 
that  source,  except  the  constant  dread  that  their  husbands  will 
take  additional  wives.  These  exceptions  noted,  the  testimony,  as 
far  as  it  can  be  had,  is  universal,  that  Mormonism  is  a  "  hard 
faith  for  women."  Again,  it  may  be  asked :  "What  do  the  wo- 


AND   CRIMES    OF    MORMONISM.  261 

men  say  about  it?  Generally,  they  say  nothing.  It  is  "sound 
Mormon  doctrine,"  that  the  "  first  duty  of  a  woman  is  submis- 
sion, and  the  second  silence ; "  and,  certainly,  the  majority  of 
Utah  women  would  gain  heaven  on  those  conditions.  The 
most  noticeable  fact  to  a  Gentile  travelling  through  Mormon 
settlements  is  the  strangely  quiet  way  in  which  women  discharge 
their  household  duties. 

They  stand  behind  the  guest  at  the  way-side  hotel,  replenish 
the  table  and  attend  upon  his  wants,  but  never  enter  into  the 
conversation,  venture  not  the  slightest  observation  or  inquiry, 
and  very  rarely  answer  his  questions  in  anything  more  than 
monosyllables.  And  those  questions  are  few,  for  it  is  almost,  if 
not  quite,  a  capital  crime  in  the  Mormon  code  to  "  interfere  with 
our  women."  Such  principles  and  such  practice  can  tend  only 
to  the  degradation  of  woman ;  and  this  I  note  as  the  second 
great  evil  of  polygamy.  To  Eastern  minds  it  is  quite  impossi- 
ble to  convey  a  full  comprehension  of  the  many  ways,  the 
thousand  little  expressions,  the  tone  of  public  and  private  man- 
ners, and  the  daily  incidents  in  which  is  manifested  this  general 
lack  of  respect  for  women.  This  is  so  marked  that  it  is  a  com- 
mon subject  of  talk  even  among  themselves ;  but  in  Salt  Lake 
City  and  most  of  the  larger  places  there  has  been  vast  improve- 
ment within  a  few  years.  Social  lines  were  closely  drawn  dur- 
ing my  stay  in  Salt  Lake,  and  no  young  woman  could  venture 
to  associate  with  the  Gentiles,  without  losing  her  standing 
among  Mormons  entirely.  Still,  many  found  their  way  into 
Gentile  society,  though  if  they  persisted  in  it,  they  were  usually 
cut  off  and  dis-fellowshipped  by  the  church  authorities. 

The  fanaticism  of  the  Mormons  was  so  great  that  they  con- 
sidered a  woman  lost  if  she  associated  with  Gentile  men ;  it  was 
concluded  at  once  that  she  could  have  no  pure  motive  in  so 
doing,  and  among  their  own  people  they  possess  the  power  to 
ruin  a  woman's  character  entirely.  An  old  Mormon,  at  whose 
house  I  visited  occasionally,  seldom  failed  to  give  me  his  views 
of  the  absurdity  of  our  common  ideas  of  woman.  His  favorite 
style  was  to  give  me  a  burlesque  representation  of  our  mode  of 
addressing  ladies,  and  when  he  got  warmed  up  on  the  subject,  it 


262  POLYGAMY. 

was  highly  amusing  to  see  him  skip  about  the  room,  hat  in  hand, 
bowing  and  grimacing  to  the  chairs,  and  imitating  the  dandified 
address  of  an  exquisite.  But  a  funny  retribution  overtook  the 
old  fellow  at  last.  In  the  train  of  the  new  officials  of  the  Grant 
administration  came  a  handsome,  middle-aged  man,  with  whom 
my  old  friend's  oldest  daughter,  reared  in  the  strictest  Mormon 
fashion,  fell  in  love  at  sight.  In  one  day,  as  it  were,  she  lost 
all  faith  in  any  religion  which  did  not  give  her  "a  man  to  her- 
self/' and  though  the  old  man  raved  and  threatened  Danites. 
death  and  damnation,  she  walked  off  with  the  Gentile. 

Most  of  the  polygamists  habitually  speak  of  their  wives  as 
"  my  women,"  and  in  his  jocular  moments,  while  preaching,  the 
late  Heber  C.  Kimball  often  spoke  of  his  facetiously  as  "ray 
cows."  I  must  say,  however,  that  all  of  this  is  not  due  to 
polygamy,  but  much  of  it  to  the  women  themselves.  Nearly  all 
of  them  are  of  foreign  birth,  English,  Welsh,  Scotch  and  Scan- 
dinavian, and  of  that  class,  too,  among  whom  men  have  never 
been  accustomed  to  respect  women  very  highly.  I  am  sure 
polygamy  could  not  have  been  established  in  a  purely  Ameri- 
can community,  and  the  Mormons  themselves  say  that  all  the 
trouble  and  opposition  come  from  the  American  wives. 

But  the  vileness  of  Mormon  polygamy,  which  gives  it  in- 
famous pre-eminence  over  that  of  Turks  and  Hindoos,  consists 
in  the  grosser  forms  of  incest,  the  intermarriage  of  near  rela- 
tions. In  their  general  revolt  against  the  ethics  of  Christendom 
and  attempt  to  found  a  society  upon  the  most  primitive  models, 
they  have  disregarded 'alike  the  laws  of  Moses  and  Mohammed ; 
and  if  they  have  any  example  in  modern  times,  it  must  be  in  the 
Utes  and  Shoshonees  who  surround  them.  To  marry  a  mother 
and  one  or  more  of  her  daughters  is  even  thought  meritorious ; 
and  the  Mormon  authorities  often  advise  a  man  to  marry  sisters, 
as  they  usually  agree  better  than  others. 

Robert  Sharkey,  a  merchant  of  Salt  Lake  City,  married  three 
sisters,  one  of  whom  was  divorced  from  her  first  husband  to 
marry  him.  They  all  lived  in  one  house,  and  quite  happily,  it 
is  said,  for  several  years,  when  in  some  strange  manner  they  all 
became  convinced  that  polygamy  was  wrong.  One  of  the  sisters 


"SHE  WALKED   OFF  WITH  THE  GENTILE." 


(263) 


-tarted  East,  but  soon  returned  and  endeavored  to  make  some 
arrangement  for  him  to  put  away  the  other  two.  There  were 
difficulties  in  the  way,  and  Sharkey's  trouble  was  so  great  on  the 
subject  that  his  mind  became  disordered,  and  in  August,  1868,  he 
committed  suicide  by  shooting  himself  through  the  head.  Two 
of  Brigham  Young's  favored  wives,  Clara  Decker  and  Lucy 
Decker  Seely,  were  sisters,  the  second  having  been  the  widow  of 
Dr.  Isaac  Seely,  of  Nauvoo,  Illinois.  One  family  within  my 
knowledge  consisted  of  two  men  and  four  women,  the  men's  first 
wives  being  sisters,  and  their  second  wives  each  a  sister  of  the 
other  man,  all  living  in  one  house.  Or  to  state  it  mathemati- 
cally :  A  and  B  first  marry  sisters,  then  A  marries  B's  sister, 
and  B  A's  sister.  Here  is  no  marriage  of  blood  relations,  and 
yet  it  looks  like  a  terrible  mixture  somewhere. 

The  question  arises  for  lawyers :  Suppose  each  of  the  women 
to  have  children,  what  akin  are  they  respectively?  And  which 
of  them  could  lawfully  marry  according  to  Leviticus  and  Chan- 
cellor Kent  ?  If  polygamy  continues,  these  mixtures  are  nothing 
to  what  must  take  place  in  the  next  generation,  for  without  a 
chemical  analysis  no  heraldry  Harvey  could  ever  succeed  in  find- 
ing the  consanguineous  circulation,  to  say  nothing  of  the  col- 
lateral. As  it  now  is,  it  seems  as  if  half  the  children  in  the 
city  are  related  in  some  way  or  other  to  the  Kimballs,  the 
Pratts  or  the  Youngs,  and  many  to  all  three.  If  it  stopped 
here,  some  faint  excuse  might  be  made ;  but  the  marriage  of 
uncle  and  niece  has  occurred  often  enough  to  establish  it  as  a 
Mormon  custom.  Bishop  Smith,  of  Brigham  City,  numbers 
two  of  his  own  brother's  daughters  among  the  inmates  of  his 
harem,  "  sealed  "  to  him  by  Brigham  Young,  with  a  full  knowl- 
edge of  the  relationship ;  and  in  the  southern  settlements  several 
such  cases  exist.  As  already  stated,  polygamy  was  but  a  mild 
affair  north  of  Salt  Lake  City,  compared  with  the  southern  set- 
tlements ;  and  in  the  latter  were  found,  before  the  days  of  min- 
ing and  railroads,  all  the  worst  features  of  Mormonism.  There 
the  bishop  was  absolute,  spiritual  guide,  temporal  governor  and 
social  tyrant ;  there  were  collected  the  most  ignorant  and  de- 
graded of  the  foreign  converts ;  the  doctrines  of  Mormonism  co- 


AND    CRIMES    OF    MORMONISM.  265 

incided  fully  with  the  people's  natural  habits  of  thought ;  respect 
for  woman  was  a  thing  almost  unknown,  and  the  marriage  of 
near  relatives  so  common  that  to  remark  on  it  would  itself  be 
considered  remarkable.  The  marriage  of  first  cousins  was  com- 
mon, but  I  heard  of  no  case  of  aunt  and  nephew.  The  follow- 
ing affair  seems  too  horrible  for  belief  among  any  people  in 
America ;  but  is  as  well  proved  as  any  fact  can  be  by  human 
testimony,  particularly  that  of  the  woman  herself  who  went  out 
of  the  Territory  with  a  military  expedition  fitted  out  under 
General  Connor. 

Among  the  first  immigrants  a  young  Scotchman  came  to 
Salt  Lake  City,  in  company  with  his  half  sister,  who  com- 
menced keeping  house  for  him.  After  a  time  he  went  to 
Brigham  and  professed  a  desire  to  marry  the  girl,  citing  the 
example  of  Abraham  and  his  half  sister  Sarai.  Brigham  owned 
there  was  something  in  it.  Abraham  was  an  example  in  favor 
of  polygamy,  and  why  not  in  this?  He  finally  sent  for  the 
girl,  and  finding  her  handsome  and  lively,  solved  the  problem 
by  marrying  her  himself;  the  half  brother  yielded  to  the 
Prophet's  superior  claim,  and  all  was  well.  But  in  a  few  short 
weeks  the  lady's  delicate  condition  showed  too  plainly  that  the 
amorous  half  brother  had  anticipated  marital  rights,  and  Brig- 
ham  found  himself  in  a  fair  way  to  have  an  heir  de  jure  that 
was  not  de  sanguine.  Here  was  a  problem.  It  would  never 
do  for  the  Prophet  to  acknowledge  himself  "sold,"  so  he  sent 
for  the  brother,  told  him  he  had  reconsidered  the  matter,  di- 
vorced the  woman  from  himself,  and  delivered  her  to  the 
brother,  who  dutifully  received  her  from  the  arras  of  the 
Prophet.  She  lived  with  her  half  brother  a  few  years  as  his 
wife,  and  bore  him  three  children,  but  finally  saw  the  degrada- 
tion of  her  position,  and  left  for  the  States.  This  man  still 
resided  in  Salt  Lake  City  when  I  was  there,  was  a  prominent 
citizen,  and  seemed  to  have  neither  blame  nor  shame  attached 
to  him.  When  I  first  heard  of  this  and  other  instances  of  like 
nature,  and  heard  the  -horrible  doctrine  of  incest  attributed  to 
the  Mormons,  I  could  not  but  think  it  an  invention  of  some 
bitter  enemy  of  the  sect ;  but  since  then  I  have  heard  it  fully 


266  POLYGAMY;     OR,    THE    MYSTERIES 

avowed  by  prominent  Mormons,  one  in  particular  who  assured 
me  the  day  was  not  distant  when  brothers  and  sisters  would 
marry  to  raise  up  a  pure  priesthood.  The  church  has  never 
published  the  sermons  delivered  when  this  subject  was  dis- 
cussed, so  we  are  left  to  the  confusing  testimony  of  those  who 
remember  them.  They  say  the  doctrine  was  first  advanced  by 
Brigham  from  the  pulpit  several  years  ago,  but  was  received 
with  such  undisguised  manifestations  of  surprise  and  disgust, 
that  he  ceased  to  pursue  it  further,  closing  with  the  remark : 
"Well,  it's  a  little  too  strong  doctrine  for  you  .now;  but  the 
time  will  be  when  you  will  take  it  in  fully."  Since  then  tlu- 
subject  has  generally  been  avoided  "  at  headquarters,"  but  can- 
not be  altogether  denied.  Brigham  has  favored  but  one  Gentile 
with  his  views  on  the  subject,  viz.:  William  Hepworth  Dixon, 
who  gives  the  following  statement  in  his  work  entitled,  "  Xew 
America:" 

"  Perhaps  it  would  not  be  too  much  to  say  that  in  the  Mor- 
mon code  there  is  no  such  crime  as  incest,  and  that  a  man  is 
practically  free  to  woo  and  wed  any  woman  who  may  take  his 
eve. 

"  We  have  had  a  very  strange  conversation  with  Young 
about  the  Mormon  doctrine.  I  asked  him  whether  it  was  a 
common  thing  among  the  Saints  to  marry  mother  and  daughter; 
and,  if  so,  on  what  authority  they  acted,  since  that  kind  of  union 
was  not  sanctioned  either  by  the  command  to  Moses  or  by  the 
revelation  to  Smith.  When  he  hung  back  from  admitting 
that  such  a  thing  occurred  at  all,  I  named  a  case  in  one  of 
the  city  wards,  of  which  we  had  obtained  some  private 
knowledge. 

"Apostle  Cannon  said  that  in  such  case  the  first  marriage 
would  be  only  a  form;  that  the  elder  female  would  be  under- 
stood as  being  a  mother  to  her  husband  and  his  younger  bride, 
on  which  I  named  my  example,  and  in  which  an  elder  of  the 
church  had  married  an  English  woman,  a  widow,  with  a 
daughter  then  of  twelve;  in  which  the  woman  had  borne  four 
children  to  this  husband ;  and  in  which  this  husband  had  mar- 
ried her  daughter  when  she  came  of  age. 


AND   CRIMES   OF    MORMONISM.  267 

"  Young  said  it  was  not  a  common  thing  at  Salt  Lake. 

"  '  But  it  does  occur  ? ' 

"  '  Yes/  said  Young,  '  it  occurs  sometimes/ 

"'On  what  ground  is  .  such  a  practice  justified  by  the 
church?7  After  a  short  pause  he  said,  with  a  faint  and 
wheedling  smile :  '  This  is  a  part  of  the  question  of  incest.  We 
have  no  sure  light  on  it  yet.  I  cannot  tell  you  what  the  church 
holds  to  be  the  actual  truth  ;  I  can  tell  you  my  own  opinion  ; 
but  you  must  not  publish  it — you  must  not  tell  it — lest  I  should 
be  misunderstood  and  blamed/ 

"  He  then  made  to  us  a  communication  on  the  nature  of  in- 
cest, as  he  thinks  of  this  offence  and  judges  it;  but  what  he  then 
said  I  am  not  at  liberty  to  print.  As  to  the  facts  which  came 
under  my  own  eyes,  I  am  free  to  speak. 

"  Incest,  in  the  sense  in  which  we  use  the  word — marriage 
within  the  prohibited  degrees — is  not  regarded  as  a  crime  by 
the  Mormon  Church. 

l(  It  is  known  that  in  some  of  these  saintly  harems  the  female 
occupants  stand  to  their  lords  in  closer  relationship  of  blood 
than  the  American  law  permits.  It  is  a  daily  event  in  Salt 
Lake  City  for  a  man  to  wed  two  sisters,  a  brother's  widow,  and 
even  a  mother  and  daughter.  In  one  household  in  Utah  may 
be  seen  the  spectacle  of  three  women,  who  stand  toward  each 
other  in  the  relation  of  child,  mother  and  grand-dame,  living  in 
one  man's  harem  as  his  wives !  I  asked  the  President  whether, 
with  his  new  lights  on  the  virtue  of  breeding  in  and  in, 
he  saw  any  objection  to  the  marriage  of  brother  and  sister. 
Speaking  for  himself,  not  for  the  church,  he  said  he  saw 
none  at  all.  What  follows  I  give  in  the  actual  words  of  the 
speakers : 

"  D. — '  Does  that  sort  of  marriage  ever  take  place? ' 

"  YOUNG. — '  Never/ 

"  D.— '  Is  it  prohibited  by  the  church  ? ' 

"  YOUNG. — 'No;  it  is  prohibited  by  prejudice/ 

"  KIMBALL. — '  Public  opinion  won't  allow  it/ 

"  YOUNG. — '  I  would  not  do  it  myself,  nor  suffer  any  one 
else,  when  I  could  help  it/ 


268  POLYGAMY;    OR,   THE   MYSTERIES 

" D. — ' Then  you  don't  prohibit,  and  you  don't  practise  it?' 

"  YOUNG. — '  My  prejudices  prevent  me.' 

"  This  remnant  of  an  old  feeling  brought  from  the  Gentile 
world,  and  this  alone,  would  seem  to  prevent  the  Saints  from 
rushing  into  the  higher  forms  of  incest.  How  long  will  these 
Gentile  sentiments  remain  in  force?" 

Morally  the  reader  may  be  shocked,  but  logically  he  should 
be  prepared  for  all  this;  for  if  we  are  to  restore  a  line  of 
prophets  and  follow  the  example  of  the  patriarchs,  then  incest 
and  polygamy  are  from  the  same  high  source.  The  examples 
of  Abraham  and  Sarai,  half  brother  and  sister ;  of  Lot  and 
Judah  and  earlier  worthies  are  to  be  repeated.  As  one  Mormon 
said  to  me,  "  the  world  could  never  have  been  peopled  without 
this  practice,  and  the  foremost  nations  of  antiquity  maintained 
it."  And  why  not?  If  "the  souls  in  the  spirit  world  wait 
earnestly  for  tabernacles,"  to  furnish  them  is  a  mere  mechanical 
act,  and  may  be  performed  by  one  person  as  well  as  another. 
Polygamy,  incest  and  blood  atonement  grow  as  naturally  from 
Mormon  theology  as  three  branches  from  the  same  stock. 

The  mind  revolts  from  the  pursuit  of  these  disgusting  de- 
tails, and  to  the  credit  of  the  Mormon  people  be  it  said,  they 
are  far  from  being  universal  in  approval  of  these  later  doctrines. 
Will  it  be  credited  after  all  this  that  the  Mormons  claim  to  be 
the  most  virtuous  people  in  the  world  ?  Yet  such  is  the  fact ; 
and  they  nevei-  weary  ot  pointing  to  the  prostitution  of  our 
great  cities,  claiming  that  it  is  their  appointed  destiny  to  remove 
all  such  evils,  and  make  women  universally  pure.  This,  then, 
is  the  self-proclaimed  task  of  Mormonism  :  to  save  a  few  by  re- 
ducing all  to  a  level ;  to  abolish  prostitution  by  legalizing  con- 
cubinage, and  elevate  the  spiritual  nature  of  woman  by  legis- 
lating for  her  as  a  mere  producer  of  young. 

Perhaps  the  most  saddening  feature  of  Mormon  polygamy  is 
the  effect  it  has  had  upon  the  young.  The  medico-theologians 
of  Utah  claim  that  polygamy  tends  to  a  more  rapid  increase  of 
population,  as  well  as  to  the  physical  and  moral  improvement 
of  the  species.  The  former  claim  is  evidently  an  error,  and 
that  the  latter  is  even  more  so  is  plain  to  any  candid  observer. 


AND   CRIMES   OF    MORMCXNISM. 


269 


It  was  long  claimed  that  the  large  infant  mortality  in  Utah  was 
due  entirely  to  polygamy,  and  that  children  were  born  with 
weaker  constitutions;  but  I  am  satisfied  that  polygamy  is  only 
one  cause,  and  that  the  waste 
of  life  is  not  because  the  chil- 
dren are  weaker  but  largely 
because  polygamy  leaves  too 
many  without  proper  care. 
This  will  be  considered  more 
at  length  when  I  treat  of  the 
political  economy  of  Utah. 
Suffice  it  to  say  here  that  the 
death-rate  is  abnormally  large. 
The  mortality  among  children 
was  long  greater  in  Salt  Lake 
City  than  any  other  in  America, 
and  the  death-rate  of  Utah 
only  exceeded  by  that  of  Louis- 
iana. The  Mormons  explain 
this  by  saying  that  their  people 
are  generally  poor  and  exposed 
to  hardships,  but  much  of  that 
poverty  is  directly  traceable  to 
their  religion.  Another  sad 
fact  is  the  general  neglect  of 
medical  care,  or  rather  a  gen- 
eral tendency  to  run  to  wild 
and  absurd  schemes  of  doctor- 
ing. They  claim  that  "laying 
on  of  hands  and  the  prayer  of 
faith"  will  heal  the  sick,  and, 
yet,  no  people  within  my 
knowledge  are  so  given  to 
"Thomsonianism,"  "steam 
doctoring,"  "yarb  medicine,"  and  every  other  irregular  mode 
of  treating  disease. 

One  day,  during  my  residence  there,  three  young  children 


270 

died  in  the  seventeenth  ward  of  scarlet  fever.  In  neither  case 
was  a  physician  called  ;  the  Bishop  came  and  "  laid  on  hands 
with  the  holy  anointing,"  and  an  old  woman  treated  two  of 
them  with  a  mild  palliative,  such  as  is  used  for  sore  throat. 
If  the  patients  live  after  such  treatment,  it  is  a  " miracle;"  if 
they  die  "  it  is  the  will  of  the  Lord."  Two-thirds  of  the 
polygamists  do  not  and  cannot  attend  properly  to  their  children. 
The  Bishop  of  one  ward  had  thirty  children  living,  and  nearly 
twenty  dead.  Joseph  Smith  had  a  dozen  spiritual  wives ;  but 
three  sons  survived  him — all  of  his  legal  wife. 

When  Heber  Kimball  was  alive  there  were  five  men  in  the 
city  who  had  together  seventy  wives;  they  had,  all  told,  four 
hundred  and  thirty -two  children.  A  polygamist'  s  grave-yard 
is  a  melancholy  sight.  One  bishop  had  .seventeen  children 
buried  in  one  row,  and  the  longest  grave  not  over  four  feet. 
If  these  men  had  but  the  common  feelings  of  humanity,  how 
fearfully  were  they  punished  for  the  crime  of  polygamy! 
Even  in  my  limited  acquaintance  with  polygamists  I  could 
mention  a  dozen  men  whose  houses,  are  full  of  women,  but 
their  children  are  in  the  grave.  The  Asiatic  institution  was 
never  meant  to  flourish  on  American  soil,  and  has  resulted  here 
in  a  slaughter  of  the  innocents  which  is  saddening  to  contem- 
plate. As  only  the  most  hardy  survive,,  they  generally  grow 
up  robust  and  active;  but  the  effects  of  their  social  bias  are 
seen  in  a  strange  dullness  of  moral  perception.  If  tlie  testi- 
mony of  numerous  young  Mormons  can  be  relied  on,  youthful 
demoralization  certainly  begins  at  an  earlier  age  in  Salt  Lake 
than  in  other  places.  In  many  cases  of  poor  men  in  polygamy, 
the  husband,  two  wives  and  their  children  occupy  the  same 
room;  and  when  we  consider  the  scenes  and  conversation  to 
which  these  children  are  witnesses,  it  would  seem  that  no  ex- 
alted ideas  of  purity  could  ever  enter  their  minds.  And  thi.- 
is  but  a  natural  result;  for  polygamy  is  tenfold  more  un- 
natural with  such  a  climate  and  race  than  in  Southern  Asia  or 
Africa. 

Strange  and  paradoxical  it  i»  that   in  a  barren  land  and  tem- 
perate or  harsh  clime,  they  have  succeeded  in  setting  up  ;i  prac- 


AND   CRIMES    OF    MOKMONISM.  271 

tice  which  social  philosophy  had  decided  to  belong  only  m 
regions  of  abundance,  in  voluptuous  climes  where  soft  airs 
incline  to  sensual  indulgence.  Stranger  still,  in  the  attempt  to 
found  a  purely  religious  community,  they  have  begun  by 
utterly  reversing  every  idea  which  the  experience  of  three 
thousand  years  had  proved  to  be  valuable;  and  in  the  very 
inception  of  a  young  society,  .which  was  to  be  fresh,  vigorous 
and  pure,  have  adopted  the  worst  vices  of  an  old  and  worn  out 
civilization.  But  to  them  these  arguments  are  idle;  "the 
mouth  of  the  Lord  hath  commanded  it;"  and  it  is  theirs  not 
to  study  results  but  to  leave  it  with  the  Lord:  so,  beholding 
all  around  them  the  furious  revenges  of  nature  on  those  who 
violate  her  most  important  law,  they  shut  their  eyes  to  these 
facts  and  pronoupce  them  false ;  and  even  the  women,  bearing 
in  their  own  bodies  the  effects  of  physiological  sin,  impiously 
claim  a  divine  sanction  to  violate  the  laws  of  nature. 

When,  leaving  the  mere  youth,  \ve  come  to  young  men  and 
women,  we  observe  two  curious  effects  of  polygamy.  The  first 
is  a  growing  tendency  to  single  life;  polygamy  to  some  extent 
necessitates  celibacy,  for  the  number  of  the  sexes  being  about 
equal,  even  in  Utah,  if  one  man  marries  two  wives,  some  other 
man  must  do  without  his  one.  Polygamy  is  in  fact  the  worst 
kind  of  robbery,  and  for  the  twelve  young  women  whom  Heber 
C.  Kimball  married  after  reaching  Utah,  some  of  them  not 
over  eighteen,  twelve  young  men  must  remain  single.  This 
tendency  was  a  matter  of  constant  reproach  by  the  priesthood 
when  I  was  in  Utah,  particularly  among  the  girls,  and  it  was 
a  common  remark  by  the  latter  that  they  would  never  marry  till 
they  could  leave  the  Territory.  And  this  accounts  in  part  for 
a  general  desire  among  the  unmarried  to  get  away  and  settle 
out  of  Utah.  The  world  would  be  surprised  at  the  constant 
losses  to  their  population  from  this  source ;  there  has  been  for 
twenty-five  years  a  constant  leak  from  the  Territory  in  every 
direction,  and  in  one  sermon  I  heard  Brigham  Young  enume- 
rate a  score  of  places  in  California,  Nevada,  Washington  and 
Oregon,  settled  entirely  by  recusant  Mormons.  In  spite  of  a 
steady  immigration  from  Europe  of  from  one  to  four  thousand 


272  POLYGAMY;   OR,   THE   MYSTERIES 

per  year,  it  was  even  then  a  debatable  question  whether  the 
Mormons  gained  faster  than  by  natural  increase.  Indeed,  Utah 
offers  but  few  inducements  for  a  young  Mormon,  if  he  possess 
more  than  average  intelligence  or  enterprise;  and  such,  it  will 
generally  be  found,  make  their  way  to  some  other  locality. 

Much  has  been  claimed  by  the  Mormons  for  the  virtue  of 
their  young  women,  and  more  said  against  it  by  some  of  their 
opponents.  From  the  best  evidence  at  my  command  I  think 
their  virtue  will  average  as  well,  or  nearly  so,  as  that  of  any 
very  poor  and  ignorant  people ;  but  the  fatal  error  of  the  Mor- 
mons is  in  allowing  for  no  virtue  except  that  by  constraint  and 
constant  watching.  No  dependence  whatever  is  placed  upon 
the  innate  moral  sense,  and  apparently  no  effort  made  to  culti- 
vate or  strengthen  it ;  it  is  not  supposed  that  virtue  is  founded 
in  aught  but  dread,  and  every  thorough  going  Mormon  acts  as 
if  he  expected  his  daughters  to  go  wrong  the  very  first  oppor- 
tunity. The  jealousy  of  the  men  is  even  greater  than  that  of 
the  women.  Nine-tenths  of  the  orthodox  take  it  for  granted 
that  a  Gentile  can  have  no  good  purpose  in  addressing  a  Mor- 
mon girl.  At  an  early  day  there  was  some  foundation  for  this 
wholesale  suspicion,  as  hundreds  of  mountaineer  Gentiles  merely 
came  there  to  winter,  and  often  left  their  wives  in  the  spring ; 
and  it  is  a  sad  fact  that  of  all  the  women  who  then  left  the  Mor- 
mons, the  majority  turned  out  badly.  When  the  California  vol- 
unteers left  there,  they  took  off  a  great  many  with  them,  of 
whom  the  majority  were  not  married.  The  Mormons,  of  course, 
attribute  this  to  the  immoral  character  of  the  Gentiles;  but  it 
is  plainly  due  to  their  system  of  forced  virtue,  by  means  of 
constraint  and  constant  surveillance,  with  no  proper  training 
of  the  moral  faculties.  During  the  era  of  absolute  churcli 
supremacy  the  idea  of  social  trust  and  confidence  between  the 
sexes  seemed  to  die  a  natural  death ;  the  "  church  spy  "  became 
a  recognized  institution,  and  society  assumed  that  air  of  jealous 
distrust  so  often  remarked  among  the  Moslems,  while  austerity 
and  reserve  were  considered  the  noblest  graces  of  woman.  It 
is  gratifying  to  state,  however,  that  the  grossness  of  sentiment 
and  language  which  prevailed  vears  ago,  is  slowly  yielding  to 


AND   CRIMES   OF    MORMONISM.  273 

something  better,  and  plain-spoken  as  the  Mormons  now  are, 
they  would  hardly  listen  quietly  to  the  indecent  harangues  once 
so  common  from  Heber  C.  Kimball.  Though  they  constantly 
insist  that  they  care  nothing  for  the  Gentile  world,  and  will 
not  be  moved  by  its  opinions,  yet  the  Mormons  are  being 
slowly  improved  in  spite  of  themselves;  they  have  adopted 
Sunday-schools,  daily  papers,  and  lyceums  from  the  Gentiles 
settled  among  them,  and  a  more  healthy  sentiment  is  struggling 
weakly  against  the  tide  of  corruption.  But  with  all  present 
mitigating  features,  polygamy  still  remains  the  foulest  blot  upon 
America's  fame,  and  the  Mormons  still  defy  every  law  of  God 
and  man  in  their  doctrines,  and,  to  some  extent,  in  their  practice. 
Such,  in  brief,  is  Mormonism.  While  all  the  world  is  striving 
to  move  on  to  a  higher,  more  spiritual  plane  of  religious  truth, 
they  have  turned  back  to  the  gross  forms  and  symbols  of  the 
time  when  religion  was  in  its  infancy.  It  is  as  though  the  old 
mathematician  should  throw  aside  his  acquired  learning,  and 
go  back  to  the  sticks  and  balls  with  which  he  learned  to  count. 
While  the  Christian  world  is  rejoicing,  that  Christ  has  freed  us 
"from  the  yoke  which  our  fathers  were  not  able  to  bear,"  they 
go  back  two  thousand  years,  and  seek  all  their  examples  from  a 
barbarous  age  and  a  stiff-necked  and  rebellious  people.  And 
their  practice  is  like  their  faith.  Claiming  a  religion  which 
will  elevate  men  to  gods,  they  plead  for  examples  the  base  in- 
stincts of  the  brute  creation;  with  snow  in  sight  the  year  round, 
they  pattern  their  domestic  life  after  that  of  inter-tropical  bar- 
barians, and  vainly  hope  to  produce  the  vigor  of  hardy  North 
men  from  the  worst  practices  of  effeminate  Asiatics. 
18 


274  POLYGAMY. 


CHAPTER   XIV. 

MORMON    DOCTRINES. 

A.  theologic  conglomerate — Sidney  Rigdon's  part— Joseph  Smith's — Orson  and 
Parley  Pratt's — Brigham  Young's — Wonderful  growth  of  Mormonism  in 
England — Analysis  of  the  faith — Gods,  angels,  spirits,  and  men— Birth  of 
spirit* — Adam  falls  uphill — "The  Holy  Oil" — Prayer  cures — Joeephites  on 
polygamy — Their  able  argument ~ — Gro=>  perversions  of  Scripture  by  Brig- 
ham  ites — Eclectic  theology. 

MORMON  theology  is  purely  eclectic.  Sidney  Rigdon  laid 
the  foundation;  Joseph  Smith  supplied  the  prophecy,  fraud, 
and  fervor;  Parley  P.  Pratt  the  fanciful  and  poetic  element-; 
Orson  Pratt  the  mysticism,  and  Brigham  Young  the  gro- 
points  of  vulgar  materialism  :  the  ecclesiastical  form  of  gov- 
ernment grew  into  shape  from  a  succession  of  exigencies,  and 
polygamy  developed  naturally  from  the  unrestrained  lusts  of 
Cowdery,  Smith,  Bennet,  and  others.  Many  doctrines  have 
l^eeu  broached,  preached  a  while,  and  then  dropped  ;  others, 
once  stoutly  maintained,  have  been  quietly  ignored  ;  and  still 
others,  which  almost  had  a  foothold  in  the  church,  have  been 
overruled  in  full  council.  The  result  is  a  vast  and  cumbrous 
system  which  is  the  standard  Mormon  theology,  but  of  which 
each  individual  Mormon  believes  so  much  or  so  little  as  he  can 
comprehend.  It  were  an  endless  task  to  pursue  these  doctrines 
through  all  the  variations,  necessary  to  force  some  sort  of  agree- 
ment, and  the  lifeless  application  of  perverted  texts  of  Scripture. 
But  the  distinctive  points  may  be  stated  historically  and  then 
grouped. 

Sirlney  Rigdon  was  expelled  from  the  Baptist  church  in  Penn- 
sylvania for  preaching  communism  of  goods,  and  after  a  brief 
connection  with  the  adherents  of  Stone  and  Campbell,  they  also 
bund  it  convenient  to  dispense  with  him.     But  he  persisted  in 


FJ.EADING  WITH  A  YOUNG   HUSBAND  NOT  TO  TAKE  ANOTHER  WIFE. 

(275) 


276  POLYGAMY;    OR,    THE    MYSTERIES 

claiming  to  be  a  "  Disciple : "  a  name  then  given  to  the  sect  who 
now  call  themselves  Christians,  but  are  generally  called  "Camp- 
bellites."  And  at  this  point  a  curious  parallel  is  noticeable : 
almost  at  the  same  time  that  Stone,  Campbell,  O'Kane,  and 
others  organized  the  "  Church  of  Christ,"  Joseph  Smith  and  his 
familiars  organized  their  church  by  the  same  name;  and  it  was 
so  called  by  its  adherents  till  after  the  expulsion  from  Jackson 
county.  They  first  lengthened  the  title  to  "  Church  of  Jesus 
Christ/'  and  at  Kirtland  added  the  words,  "of  Latter-day 
Saints ; "  and  this  six-worded  designation  is  the  official  title  to- 
day. Alexander  Campbell  is  one  of  the  few  preachers  of 
the  old  sects  who  has  a  warm  place  in  Mormon  affections; 
and  they  patronizingly  allude  to  him  as  "a  sort  of  fore- 
runner: like  John  the  Baptist  before  Christ."  It  will  be 
seen  from  all  this  that  there  is  much  evidence  to  sustain  the 
theory  that  Sidney  Rigdon  was  the  real  founder  of  Mormonism ; 
that  he  and  Joseph  Smith  had  met  and  had  an  understanding 
long  before  the  pretended  date  of  Sidney's  conversion,  and 
that  the  Prophet  selected  the  title  for  his  new  church  with 
direct  reference  to  the  "Church  of  Christ" — organized  the 
same  year  in  Kentucky.  Several  writers  on  Mormonism  have 
adopted  these  as  established  facts ;  I  can  only  say  that  I  con- 
sider them  not  quite  proved.  As  might  naturally  be  expected 
this  parody  by  the  Mormons  of  the  Christian  Church  has  been 
a  great  annoyance  to  the  latter,  and  has  resulted  in  some  injus- 
tice to  a  very  worthy  people. 

Of  Rigdon's  own  particular  "Disciples"  some  became  Mil- 
lenarians,  and  another  part  Perfectionists,  and  the  remainder 
followed  Rigdon  when  he  joined  his  fortunes  with  those  of  Joe 
Smith,  and  assisted  in  founding  Kirtland.  Under  the  early 
teachings  of  Brigham  Young  they  adopted  the  Methodist  order 
of  services.  Their  missionaries  when  abroad,  at  present,  first 
preach  principles  very -similar  to  those  of  the  "  Campbellites ; " 
and  what  the  Mormons  call  "  the  first  principles  of  the  gospel " 
are  mainly  those  of  that  sect.  But  it  is  the  smallest  part  of  Mor- 
mon theology  which  has  its  origin  in  any  recognized  Christian 
system  ;  and  by  the  successive  additions  of  Rigdon,  Joe  Smith, 


AND   CRIMES   OF    MORMONISM.  277 

and  Brighara  Young,  the  laborious  philosophical  speculations 
of  Orson  Pratt,  and  the  wild,  poetical  dreams  of  his  brother, 
Parley  P.  Pratt,  it  may  well  be  said  there  is  scarcely  a  known 
system  of  religion,  ancient  or  modern,  but  has  contributed  some 
shred  of  doctrine  to  Mor monism. 

It  is  now  beyond  the  power  of  man  to  invent  a  new  religion. 
At  this  late  day  combination  is  all  that  is  left  for  the  innovator, 
and  the  doctrinal  points  of  Mormonism  are  culled  from  three 
diiferent  sources,  viz. : 

I.  Christianity,  by  a  literal  interpretation  of  the  Bible,  par- 
ticularly the  prophecies. 

II.  Ancient  mythology  and  various  modern  forms  of  pagan 
philosophy. 

III.  The  philosophical  speculations  of  various  schools ;  the 
whole  modified  and  practical ized  by  revelation  applied  to  events 
of  daily  occurrence. 

Sidney  Rigdon  carried  with  him  from  the  Christians  the 
three  great  tenets  :  Faith,  Repentance,  and  Baptism  by  Immer- 
sion. To  these  he  added,  laying  on  of  hands  for  the  gift  of 
the  Holy  Ghost,  which  was  understood  to  include  the  power  of 
healing,  speaking  in  tongues,  receiving  revelations  and  the  en- 
joyment of  a  "  sure  witness  of  the  truth."  These  they  preached 
in  Europe,  and  nothing  else ;  and  as  far  as  possible  all  other 
doctrines  are  still  kept  back  till  the  new  convert  reaches  Zion. 
And  even  now  it  strikes  one  with  astonishment  to  read  of  their 
marvellous  success  in  England.  It  was  like  a  renewal  of  the 
mission  of  the  apostolic  fishermen  of  Galilee.  The  Mormon 
missionary  came  to  the  British  laborer  totally  unlike  the  parish 
priest.  He  did  not  stand  off  and  preach  down  at  the  poor  out- 
cast; he  took  a  farming  tool  and  worked  beside  him;  did 
task  for  task  with  him,  and  talked  only  in  the  intervals  of 
work.  He,  too,  had  known  poverty  and  disgrace ;  he,  too,  had 
been  an  unfortunate  and  an  outcast ;  he  had  not  walked  in 
silver  slippers,  and  how  mightily  did  he  affect  these  simple 
people !  From  house  to  house  he  went,  resolving  doubts,  urging 
proof  texts,  preaching  and  debating ;  and  sitting  by  their  humble 
firesides  of  an  evening,  he  sang  with  unction : 


278  POLYGAMY;  OR,  THE  MYSTERIES 

"  The  Spirit  of  God  like  a  fire  is  burning, 

The  latter-day  glory  begins  to  come  forth  ; 
The  visions  and  blessings  of  old  are  returning , 

The  angels  are  coming  to  visit  the  earth. 
We'll  ?ing  and  we'll  shout  with  the  armies  of  heaven, 

Hosanna,  hosanna,  to  God  and  the  Lamb  I 
Let  glory  to  them  in  the  highest  be  given, 

Henceforth  and  forever,  amen  and  amen ! " 


A    FOREIGN    MORMON'S   DBEAM   OF    UTAH. 

What  wonder  that  he  prevailed  mightily  among  these  simple 
people!  What  wonder  that  the  cold,  barren,  carefully  prepared 
homilies  of  the  parish  priest  were  swept  aside !  The  emotional 
faith  of  the  speaker  went  to  the  hearer's  soul.  It  was  no  cold, 
intellectual  reasoning;  it  was  warm,  robust  feeling,  and  as  a 
natural  consequence  believers  grew  and  multiplied.  Once  con- 
sorted the  whole  aim  of  their  lives  was  changed.  Preaching 


AND    CRIMES    OF    MORMONISM.  279 

and  working,  at  home  or  abroad,  all  was  for  the  Church ;  their 
talk  was  of  "visions  and  dreams,"  "the  ministering  of  angels/' 
"tongues  and  the  interpretation  of  tongues/'  "healings  and 
miracles."  All  their  dreams  were  soon  to  be  realized ;  that 
Brotherhood  of  Man,  that  freedom  they  had  vainly  sought  in 
Chartism,  was  to  be  realized  in  the  Rocky  Mountains,  where 
God's  people  were  to  live  under  the  mild  rule  of  prophets  and 
apostles.  Such  an  idea  captivated  thousands  of  young  English- 
men. To  them  Utah  was  a  land  where  all  legal  hardships 
were  to  be  cured,  and  all  men  to  be  equal ;  and  the  spirit  of 
brotherhood  among  the  British  saints  at  this  time,  to  which  all 
observers  bear  witness,  they  thought  only  a  foretaste  of  the  per- 
fect oneness  in  Christ  which  was  to  prevail  in  Utah. 

The  church  grew  with  such  rapidity  that  within  eight  years 
after  Joseph  Smith's  death  there  were  about  40,000  Latter-day 
Saints  in  the  British  Conference.  Without  a  murmur  every 
one  contributed  all  he  could  spare  to  spread  the  gospel.  The 
poor  strained  every  nerve  to  get  to  Utah ;  the  well-to-do  sold 
their  possessions  to  help  their  brethren  forward,  and  once  on 
the  vessel,  chartered  by  the  elders,  they  bade  glad  farewell  to 
"dying  Babylon,"  and  sang,  with  glad  exultation,  the  Mormon 
emigrant's  hymn : 

"O,  my  native  land,  I  love  thee; 

All  thy  scenes  I  love  them  well ; 
Friends,  connections,  happy  country, 
Can  I  bid  you  all  farewell  ? 

Can  I  leave  you, 
Far  in  distant  lands  to  dwell  ? 

"  Home,  thy  joys  are  passing  lovely, 

Joys  no  stranger  heart  can  tell, 
Happy  home,  'tis  sure  I  love  thee, 
Can  I,  can  I  say  farewell  ? 

Can  I  leave  thee, 
Far  in  distant  lands  to  dwell  ? 

"  Yes,  I  hasten  from  you  gladly, 

From  the  scenes  I  love  so  well  ; 
Far  away  ye  billows  bear  me  ; 
Lovely,  native  land,  farewell ! 

Pleased  I  leave  thee, 
Far  in  distant  lands  to  dwell. 


280  POLYGAMY;  OR,  THE  MYSTERIES 

"  Bear  me  on,  thou  restless  ocean, 

Let  the  winds  my  canvass  swell ; 
Heaves  my  heart  with  warm  emotion 
While  I  go  far  hence  to  dwell, 

Glad  I  bid  thee, 
Native  land,  farewell,  farewell!" 

Once  in  Utah  a  change  generally  came  over  the  spirit  of 
their  dream.  The  more  intelligent  British  Mormons  who  have 
seceded  from  the  church,  uniformly  testify  that  nothing  was  so 
cruel  a  disappointment  to  them  as  the  hard,  cold  and  rigid 
formalism  they  found  in  Utah  compared  with  the  warm  fellow- 
ship of  Saints  in  England.  Indeed  to  all  the  British  Mormons, 
and  nearly  all  the  fervent  ones  among  the  early  American  con- 
verts, the  present  temporal  theocracy  in  Utah  is  a  bitter  dis- 
appointment ;  for,  according  to  what  they  were  taught,  and  by 
the  plain  letter  of  the  early  prophecies,  the  earthly  scene  should 
have  closed  in  blood  and  fire  long  before  this,  the  wicked  have 
sunk  to  their  place,  the  heavens  be  rolled  up  as  a  scroll,  and 
the  faithful  saints  charioting  in  immortal  triumph  far  above 
the  clouds. 

Here  is  a  specimen  of  the  stuff  they  were  then  fed  on  : 

"A  PROPHECY  ;  or  an  extract  from  the  Word  of  the  Lord 
concerning  New  York,  Albany,  and  Boston,  given  on  the  23d 
day  of  September,  1832. 

"  Let  the  Bishop"  (Newel  K.  Whitney)  "go  into  the  city  of 
New  York  and  also  to  the  city  of  Albany,  and  also  to  the  city 
of  Boston,  and  warn  the  people  of  those  cities  with  the  sound 
of  the  gospel,  with  a  loud  voice,  of  the  desolation  and  utter 
abolishment  which  awaits  them  if  they  do  reject  these  things ; 
for,  if  they  do  reject  these  things,  the  hour  of  their  judgment  is 
nigh,  and  their  house  shall  be  left  unto  them  desolate." 

And  soon  after  Parley  P.  Pratt  cried  aloud  in  New  York 
city  as  follows :  "Within  ten  years  from  now  (1838)  the  people 
of  this  country  who  are  not  Latter-day  Saints  will  be  subdued 
by  the  Saints  or  swept  from  the  face  of  the  earth  ;  and  if  this 
prediction  fails,  then  you  may  know  that  the  Book  of  Mormon 
is  not  true,"  and  when  departing  he  shook  off  the  dust  of  his 


AND   CRIMES   OF   MORMONISM.  281 

feet  as  a  testimony  against  the  city  which  would  not  help  the 
Saints  in  Missouri,  and  sang  a  great  "  Lamentation,"  calling  on 
the  New  Yorkers,  "  When  the  union  is  severed,  when  this 
mighty  city  shall  crumble  to  ruin,  and  sink  as  a  mill-stone,  the 
merchants  undoing,  O,  sing  this  lamentation  and  think  upon 
me ! "  Very  rash  for  prophets  to  name  time  and  place  in  their 
utterances — very  rash,  indeed — but  it  does  show  that  for  the 
time  they  believe  the  stuff  themselves. 

Among  the  doctrines  preached  at  various  times  and  aban- 
doned or  condemned,  are :  The  "  spiritual  wifery,"  taught  and 
somewhat  practiced  at  Nau voo ;  the  "  baby  resurrection,"  put 
forward  by  Orson  Hyde,  who  claimed  that  the  ancient  Hebrews 
and  others  were  born  again  in  Mormon  babies,  and  that  mothers 
by  observing  the  movings  of  the  spirit  could  tell  which  tribe 
of  Israel  their  unborn  children  belonged  to ;  the  Adam-God 
theory  of  Brigham  Young,  that  Adam  is  now  the  god  ruling 
this  world,  and  that  Brigham  himself  will  in  due  time  succeed 
to  that  place,  as  soon  as  Joseph  Smith  goes  higher,  and  perhaps 
I  should  add,  the  blood-atonement  theory,  as  the  Mormons  now 
deny  it,  or,  at  any  rate,  no  longer  preach  it.  Excluding  these 
the  general  Mormon  theology  may  be  classed  under  five  heads: 

I.  Pure  materialism. 

II.  The  eternity  of  matter. 

III.  Pre-existence  of  the  soul,  and  transmission  of  spirits. 

IV.  A  plurality  of  gods. 

V.  A  plurality  of  wives,  or  "  celestial  marriage." 

All  these  are  blended  in  various  ways,  and  depend  upon  each 
other  in  a  score  of  combinations  and  confused  inter-relations ; 
but  as  far  as  possible  they  are  treated  separately. 

I.  The  Mormons  hold  that  there  is  no  such  thing  as  spirit 
distinct  from  matter ;  that  spirit  is  only  matter  refined,  and  that 
spirits  themselves  are  composed  of  purely  material  atoms,  only 
finer  than  the  tangible  things  of  earth,  as  air  is  finer  and  more 
subtle  than  water,  while  both  are  equally  material.  "The 
purest,  most  refined  and  subtle  of  all  is  that  substance  called 
the  Holy  Spirit.  This  substance,  like  all  others,  is  one  of  the 
elements  of  material  or  physical  existence,  and,  therefore,  sub- 


282  POLYGAMY;    OR,   THE    MYSTERIES 

ject  to  the  necessary  laws  which  govern  all  other  matter.  Like 
the  other  elements  its  whole  is  composed  of  individual  particles. 
Each  particle  occupies  space,  possesses  the  power  of  motion,  re- 
quires time  to  move  from  one  part  of  space  to  another,  and  can 
in  nowise  occupy  two  places  at  once,  in  this  respect  differing 
nothing  from  all  other  matter.  It  is  widely  diffused  among  all 
the  elements  of  space;  under  the  control  of  the  Great  Eloheim 
it  is  the  moving  cause  of  all  the  intelligences,  by  which  they 
act.  It  is  omnipresent  by  reason  of  the  infinitude  of  its  par- 
ticles, is  the  controlling  element  of  all  others  and  comprehends 
all  things.  By  the  mandate  of  the  Almighty  it  performs  all 
the  wonders  ever  manifested  in  the  name  of  the  Lord.  Its 
inherent  properties  embrace  all  the  attributes  -of  intelligence 
and  affection.  In  short  it  is  the  attributes  of  the  eternal  power 
and  Godhead/'  * 

Gods,  angels,  spirits  and  men,  the  four  orders  of  intelligent 
beings,  are  all  of  one  species,  composed  of  similar  materials, 
differing  not  in  kind  but  in  degree.  God  is  a  perfected  man  ; 
man  is  an  etnbryotic  or  undeveloped  god.  Orson  Pratt  has 
pursued  this  doctrine  to  its  wildest  ultimate,  and  proves  to  his 
own  satisfaction  that  every  original  atom  was  endowed  with  a 
self-acting,  independent  intelligence,  and  they  merely  "got 
together"  of  their  own  volition.  Thus  in  the  attempt  to  avoid 
the  supposed  mystery  of  an  instantaneous  creation  by  the  one 
God,  he  has  raised  an  infinity  of  unsolved  problems  by  making 
every  atom  a  god. 

II.  The  eternity  of  matter  is  a  logical  outgrowth  of  material- 
ism. In  this  view  every  atom  now  in  being  has  existed  from 
all  eternity  past  and  will  exist  for  all  eternity  to  come.  There 
never  could  have  been  a  "  creation,"  except  to  appropriate 
'•  matter  unformed  and  void,"  and  change  its  form,  impressing 
new  conditions  upon  it. 

Xew  worlds  are  constantly  being  formed  of  the  unappropri- 


*  The  quotations  in  this  chapter  are  from  Parley  P.  Pratt's  "  Key  to  The- 
ology," a  standard  work  among  the  Mormons,  and  by  them  considered  a*  in 
spired 


AND    CRIMES   OF    MORMONISM.  283 

ated  material  of  tie  universe,  and  stocked  with  spirits,  after 
which  faithful  Saints  rule  over  them  and  become  gods. 

III.  Closely  allied  with  the  last  principle  is  that  of  the  pre- 
existence  of  souls;  and  here  we  first  meet  with  the  sexual  prin- 
ciple which  underlies  all  the  remaining  portion  of  Mormonism. 
All  the  sexual  passions  exist  in  full  force  in  the  different 
worlds,  and  animate  the  immortal  gods  as  fully  as  their  human 
offspring.  Countless  millions  of  spirits  are  thus  born  in  the 
eternal  worlds,  and  are  awaiting  by  myriads  the  physical  pro- 
cesses by  which  they  may  enter  earthly  tabernacles  and  begin 
their  second,  or  probationary  state.  "Wisdom  inspires  the 
gods  to  multiply  their  species/'  and  as  these  spiritual  bodies 
increase,  fresh  worlds  are  necessary  upon  which  to  transplant 
them.  These  spiritual  bodies  have  all  the  organs  of  thought, 
speech  and  hearing,  in  exact  similitude  to  earthly  senses.  But 
in  this  state  they  could  not  advance;  it  was  necessary  for  them 
to  be  subject  to  the  moral  law  of  earth  that  regeneration  might 
go  on.  Hence  they  "seek  earnestly  for  earthly  tabernacles, 
haunting  even  the  abodes  of  the  vilest  of  mankind  to  obtain 
them."  To  bestow  these  tabernacles  is  the  highest  glory  of 
woman,  and  her  exaltation  in  eternity  will  be  in  exact  propor- 
tion to  the  number  she  has  furnished.  Man  may  preach  the 
gospel,  may  reach  the  highest  glories  of  the  priesthood,  may  in 
time  even  be  a  creator;  but  woman's  only  road  to  glory  is  by 
the  physical  process  of  introducing  spirits  to  earth.  Hence  the 
larger  her  family  the  greater  her  glory;  any  means  to  prevent 
natural  increase  are  in  the  highest  degree  sinful,  and  violent 
means  an  unpardonable  sin. 

Of  these  spirits  it  is  intimated  some  "did  not  keep  their  first 
estate,"  and  are  to  be  thrust  down  and  never  permitted  to  have 
earthly  tabernacles  or  propagate  their  species.  Those  who 
reach  this  earth  are  in  their  "second  estate,"  and  if  faithful 
Saints  will  pass  to  their  "  third  estate,"  celestialized  men,  after 
which  they  become  gods. 

But  at  a  certain  time  in  the  eternities  there  was  a  grand  bat- 
tle among  the  spirits  between  the  adherents  of  Jesus  and  those 
of  Lucifer.  In  discussing  the  plan  of  this  world  Lucifer  had 


284 

proposed  to  save  men  in  their  sins,  but  it  was  voted  by  a  two- 
thirds  majority  to  save  them  from  their  sins.  A  regular  elec- 
tion row  followed,  in  which  the  secessionists  were  soundly  and 
satisfactorily  whaled ;  they  are  now  firing  up  down  below,  and 
are  not  allowed  to  enter  into  babies  and  have  earthly  taberna- 
cles. Still  they  earnestly  desire  them,  and  if  any  man  gets  suf- 
ficiently mean,  or  is  in  a  "  spirit  of  apostasy,"  a  door  is  opened 
for  one  of  these  devils  to  get  in  and  possess  him — a  very  com- 
mon occurrence  in  Utah.  During  this  fight  a  few  of  the  spirits 
refused  to  take  sides ;  these  are  condemned  to  have  black  taber- 
nacles— hence  the  African  race !  The  Indians,  Kanakas,  and  a 
few  others  are  degenerate  descendants  of  the  ancient  Jews ;  all 
the  yellow  races  merely  varieties  of  the  white,  and  so  all  are 
accounted  for  save  the  mulattoes.  There  is  no  knowing  by 
Mormon  revelation  what  sort  of  spirits  get  into  them.  It  will 
be  seen  also  that  the  spirits  not  only  had  to  enter  earthly  taber- 
nacles, but  be  subject  to  temptation,  whereof  Nephi,  in  the 
Book  of  Mormon,  says :  "  Xow,  behold,  if  Adam  had  not  trans- 
gressed, he  would  not  have  fallen,  but  he  would  have  remained 
in  the  garden  of  Eden.  And  all  things  which  were  created 
must  have  remained  in  the  same  state  which  they  were  after 
they  were  created ;  and  they  must  have  remained  for  ever,  and 
had  no  end.  And  they  would  have  had  no  children ;  where- 
fore they  would  have  remained  in  a  state  of  innocence,  having 
no  joy,  for  they  knew  no  misery ;  doing  no  good,  for  they  knew 


no  sin." 


In  brief,  Adam  and  Eve  had  to  violate  the  one  command  in 
order  to  keep  the  other — to  increase  and  multiply — and  in  his 
"  fall  "  he  really  fell  up-hill,  as  it  were.  So,  after  coming  down 
for  a  good  start  and  going  up  again,  the  faithful  are  to  become 
gods. 

IV.  There  is  a  vast  multitude  of  gods,  dispersed  throughout 
all  the  worlds  as  kingdoms,  families  and  nations.  There  is, 
however,  but  one  god  regnant  on  each  world,  who  is  to  the  in- 
habitants of  that  world  the  "  only  true  and  living  God."  But 
each  god  having  a  first-born  son,  there  is  "  One  God  and  One 
Christ "  to  each  world.  Thus  "  there  are  lords  many  and  gods 


AND   CHIMES   OF    MORMONISM.  285 

many/'  but  to  us  there  is  but  one  God,  the  Creator  of  the  world 
and  the  Father  of  our  spirits,  literally  begotten.  He  was  once 
a  man  of  some  world  and  attained  his  high  position  by  succes- 
sive degrees.  "  He  is  the  father  of  Jesus  Christ  in  the  only 
way  known  in  nature,  just  as  John  Smith,  Senior,  is  the  father 
of  John  Smith,  Junior." 

All  the  gods  have  many  wives  and  become  the  fathers  of  the 
souls  of  men  by  divine  generation.  The  gods  are  in  the  exact 
form  of  men,  of  material  substance,  but  highly  refined  and  spir- 
itualized. A  grand  council  of  the^oc?s,  with  a  president  direct- 
ing, constitute  the  designing  and  creating  power ;  but  man,  if 
faithful,  will  advance  by  degrees  till  endowed  with  the  same  crea- 
tive power.  All  faithful  Saints  will  become  gods  and  finally 
have  worlds  given  them  to  people  and  govern.  All  their 
earthly  wives  and  children  will  belong  to  and  constitute  the 
beginning  of  their  heavenly  kingdom,  and  they  will  rule  over 
their  increasing  posterity  forever. 

"  When  the  earth  was  prepared,  there  came  from  an  upper 
world  a  Son  of  God,  with  his  beloved  spouse,  and  thus  a  colony 
from  heaven,  it  may  be  from  the  sun,  was  transplanted  on  our 
soil."  Joseph  Smith  is  one  of  the  gods  of  this  generation  and 
now  occupies  a  high  position  next  to  Christ,  who  in  turn  stands 
next  to  Adam.  Above  Adam  is  Jehovah  and  above  Jehovah  is 
Eloheim,  who  is  the  greatest  god  of  whom  we  have  any  knowl- 
edge. His  residence  is  in  the  planet  Kolob,  near  the  centre  of 
our  system,  which  revolves  upon  its  axis  once  in  a  thousand 
years,  which  are  "  with  the  Lord  as  one  day."  There  were  six 
of  our  days  in  the  first  "  creation  "  of  this  world,  and  six  of  the 
Lord's  days  in  the  great  preparation  or  course  of  the  world, 
each  day  lasting  a  thousand  years.  There  were  two  of  these 
days  to  each  dispensation.  The  Patriarchal  had  two  of  these 
days;  the  Mosaic  in  like  manner  a  day  of  rise  and  a  day  of  de- 
cline ;  the  Christian  dispensation  also  had  its  two  days  of  trial, 
but,  after  St.  John's  death,  a  great  apostasy  began,  and  for 
eighteen  hundred  years  the  so-called  Christian  world  has  been 
in  darkness  and  there  has  been  no  true  priesthood  upon  the 
earth.  There  have  been  no  visions,  revelations  pr  miraculous 


286  POLYGAMY. 

gifts  from  the  Lord  enjoyed  among  men.  The  various  sects 
knew  something  of  the  truth  but  not  its  fullness  they  had  the 
form  of  godliness  but  denied  the  power. 

But  this  time  of  darkness  is  nearly  completed;  the  dawn  of 
the  Lord's  day  is  here,  and  the  great  Sabbath  will  soon  be  ush- 
ered in.  But  a  few  more  years  are  given  to  the  Gentiles,  then 
the  great  contest  of  Gog  and  Magog  will  set  in,  and  nearly  all 
the  Gentile  world  be  destroyed.  Those  who  remain  will  become 
servants  to  the  Saints,  who  will  return  and  possess  the  whole 
land;  the  widows  will  come  begging  the  Mormon  elders  to 
marry  them,  and  seven  women  will  lay  hold  of  one  man.  At 
the  same  time  the  remnant  left  of  the  Indians,  who  are  descend- 
ants of  the  ancient  Jews,  will  be  converted,  have  the  curse  re- 
moved and  become  "a  fair  and  delightsome  people."  The  way 
will  be  opened  to  the  remainder  of  the  "  ten  lost  tribes,"  who 
are  shut  up  somewhere  near  the  North  Pole ;  old  Jerusalem  will 
be  rebuilt  by  all  the  Jews  gathering  to  the  Holy  Land,  and 
about  the  year  1890,  the  new  Jerusalem  will  be  let  down  from 
God  out  of  heaven  and  located  in  Jackson  county,  Missouri, 
with  the  corner-stone  of  the  Great  Temple  three  hundred  yards 
west  of  the  old  court-house  in  Independence,  where  is  to  be  the 
capital  of  Christ's  earthly  kingdom.  The  Saints  will  own  all 
the  property  of  the  country,  and  marry  all  the  women  they  de- 
sire; the  streets  of  their  city  will  ta  paved  with  the  gold  dug 
by  Gentiles  from  the  Rocky  Mountains;  noxious  insects  will  be 
banished,  contagious  diseases  cease,  the  land  produce  abundantly 
of  grain,  flower  and  fruit,  and  everything  will  be  lovely  in  the 
new  Jerusalem ! 

Leaving  the  reader  to  smile  or  regret,  as  personal  tempera- 
ment may  incline,  I  hasten  to  a  consideration  of  the  Mormon 
tenets  nominally  derived  from  the  Christian  Bible.  The  Mor- 
mons steadily  claim  the  Bible  as  the  first  foundation  of  their  be- 
lief; that  they  "believe  all  that  any  Christians  do,  and  a  great 
deal  more."  Their  tenets  most  nearly  resembling  those  of 
Christian  sects,  and  which  they  call  the  "  First  principles  of  the 
gospel,"  are  explained  at  great  length  in  the  "  Doctrines  and 
Covenants,"  the  New  Testament  of  Mormonism.  This  book  is 


(887) 


288  POLYGAMY;   OK,    THE    MYSTERIES 

made  up  of  revelations,  "selected  (!)  from  those  of  Joseph 
Smith,"  and  the  doctrinal  lectures  of  various  elders,  particularly 
Sidney  Rigdon,  with  an  addition  containing  the  rules  and  dis- 
cipline of  the  church.  The  "  Lectures  on  faith  and  repentance  '' 
contain  nothing  more  than  is  familiar  to  every  attendant  on  the 
worship  of  Arminian  sects.  Baptism  the  Mormons  regard  as 
"  a  saving  ordinance,"  of  actual  and  material  value  ;  and  to  such 
an  extent  do  they  carry  this  doctrine,  that  they  baptize  again 
and  again,  after  every  backsliding,  and  sometimes  when  there 
has  been  a  period  of  "  general  coldness  "  in  the  church.  At  th'e 
time  known  in  Mormon  annals  as  the  "  Reformation,"  every 
adult  member  of  the  church  was  re-baptized.  Nearly  all  the  old 
members  have  been  baptized  two  or  three  times  each,  and  Brig- 
ham  Young,  in  one  of  his  sermons,  mentions  an  old  reprobate 
who  had  been  baptized  no  less  than  twelve  times,  and  "  cut  off 
thirteen  times  for  lying."  Brigham  himself,  who  was  then 
much  addicted  to  liquor,  seems  to  have  fallen  under  the  power 
of  his  enemy  soon  after  uniting  with  the  church,  thus  rendering 
re-baptism  necessary  ;  and  a  quiet  joke  is  current  among  the  less 
reverent  Saints,  to  the  effect  that  a  noted  Jew,  named  Seixas, 
then  connected  with  the  Mormons,  jocosely  proposed  to  "  leave 
him  in  over  night." 

But  the  tenet  as  to  the  spirit  opens  to  view  the  whole  of  their 
divergence  from  Christian  sects.  The  prime  principle  in  their 
faith  which  marks  this  departure  is,  that  the  office  of  the  Holy 
Ghost  had  been  unknown  on  earth  from  the  death  of  the  last 
apostle  to  the  calling  of  Joseph  Smith  ;  that  the  mystic  power 
mentioned  by  St.  John  had  warred  with  the  Saints  and  over- 
come them ;  that  the  true  priesthood  was  then  taken  from  the 
earth,  and  men,  blindly  seeking  the  truth,  divided  into  six 
hundred  and  sixty-six"  sects,  "  the  number  of  the  beast,"  each 
having  a  little  truth,  but  none  holding  it  in  purity. 

Joseph  Smith,  earnestly  calling  upon  the  Lord  to  know 
which  of  the  sects  was  in  the  right,  was  told  that  all  were  alike 
gone  astray,  and  was  himself  ordained  by  heavenly  messengers, 
first  to  the  Aaronic  and  afterwards  to  the  Melchisedec  priest- 
hood. Thenceforth  the  Holy  Ghost  was  to  be  given  to  all  true 


AND   CRIMES   OF   MORMONISM.  289 

believers ;  the  "  witness  of  the  spirit "  was  to  be  an  absolute 
certainty,  and  all  who  had  truly  embraced  the  new  gospel  were 
"  to  know  for  themselves,  and  without  a  shadow  of  doubt,"  that 
it  was  true.  How  strange  and  yet  how  natural,  this  constant 
seeking  by  man  for  certainty  as  to  the  affairs  of  the  unseen 
world !  Hundreds  of  times  I  have  listened  to  the  testimony  of 
individual  Mormons:  "You  believe  you  are  right — I  know  this 
religion  is  true.  We  have  a  witness  no  other  people  can  have 
— the  gift  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  In  the  old  churches  we  always 
had  our  doubts;  now  we  know  the  correctness  of  this  doctrine." 
Thus  for  a  season.  But  man  was  not  made  for  such  abso- 
lutism ;  it  is  folly  to  seek  a  perfect  certainty  in  that  which  is 
from  its  very  nature  intangible  and  uncertain,  and  it  will  often  be 
found  that  the  wildest  and  most  unreasoning  faith  has  the  most 
obstinate  devotees.  It  is  sufficient  comment  upon  the  above 
"  testimony,"  to  state  the  facts  that  no  church  ever  organized 
has  developed  so  many  factions  in  so  short  a  time  as  Mormon- 
ism  ;  that  the  original  organization  has,  from  time  to  time,  given 
rise  to  twenty-five  sects,  of  which  half  a  dozen  are  still  in  ex- 
istence ;  and  that  of  all  who  have  ever  embraced  Mormonism, 
over  seventy  per  cent,  have  apostatized. 

At  the  same  time  with  the  Holy  Ghost,  all  the  "gifts"  of 
the  first  church  were  to  be  restored :  prophecy,  healing,  miracles, 
speaking  in  tongues  and  the  interpretation  of  tongues  were  to 
accompany  the  new  gospel  and  be  its  powerful  witnesses  among 
men.  Hence  all  the  miracles  which  have  followed  the  Latter- 
day  work.  The  Mormons  are  fond  of  quoting  that  text  where 
all  power  is  given  to  the  church,  and  the  enumeration  of  gifts 
with  the  statement,  "  These  signs  shall  follow  them  that  be- 
lieve." They  then  triumphantly  exclaim,  "  Where  is  the  pro- 
fessed Christian  church  which  has,  or  even  claims  these  gifts? 
We  have  them  in  their  fullness,  and  this  is  our  testimony  that 
we  are  truly  of  the  Lord."  As  far  as  human  testimony  can 
prove  anything  on  such  a  subject,  they  prove  numerous 
"  miracles"  in  the  way  of  healing  various  ailments;  but  I  have 
been  satisfied  of  the  truth  of  none  that  cannot  be  readily  ac- 
counted for  from  the  effects  of  a  fervent  and  fooling  faith.  The 
19 


290  POLYGAMY. 

most  common  miracle  is  the  cure  of  rheumatism  and  neuralgia 
by  "laying  on  of  hands"  and  anointing  with  holy  oil.  The 
general  rule  of  the  church  is  to  send  for  the  nearest  elders  and 
bishops  as  soon  as  a  Saint  is  taken  sick ;  they  lay  on  hands  and 
anoint  the  patient  with  consecrated  oil,  rubbing  it  briskly  on  the 
parts  most  affected.  If  the  patient  grows  worse,  other  digni- 
taries are  sent  for,  more  vigorous  prayers  are  offered  up.  and 
strenuous  efforts  made  to  arouse  the  healing  virtue;  but  gen- 
erally a  physician  is  the  last  resort,  a  religious  prejudice  pre- 
vailing to  some  extent  against  the  profession.  A  resident 
physician  of  Salt  Lake  City  informed  me  that  he  was  once 
called  to  see  a  woman  in  labor,  who  had  been  suffering  for 
twenty-four  hours,  and  was  literally  "greased  from  head  to 
foot  with  the  consecrated  oil."  It  proved  to  be  a  very  simple 
and  by  no  means  unusual  case,  which  he  relieved  in  a  few 
minutes,  at  the  very  time  the  attendant  women  were  emptying 
a  large  horn  of  consecrated  oil  upon  the  patient's  head;  the 
relief  was  followed  by  loud  praises  of  the  efficacy  of  the  holy 
oil,  and  the  woman  is  now  a  firm  witness  of  the  miracle. 

"  Speaking  in  tongues  "  is  not,  as  one  would  naturally  sup- 
pose, the  gift  of  speech  in  the  vernacular  of  various  nations, 
such  as  attended  the  pentecostal  season.  That  would  be  alto- 
gether too  linguistic  and  practical  for  these  latter  days.  It 
consists  merely  of  uttering  a  rapid  succession  of  articulate  and 
connected  sounds,  not  understood  by  the  speaker  himself,  but 
which  are  explained  by  some  one  having  the  "interpretation  of 
tongues."  The  mode  is  for  the  person  who  thinks  himself  en- 
dowed with  this  gift  to  "  stand  up,  call  upon  the  Lord  in  silent 
prayer  for  a  few  moments,  then  open  the  mouth  and  utter 
whatever  words  come  to  hand,  anfl  the  Lord  will  make  them  a 
language."  An  interpreter  will  then  be  provided  and  the 
hidden  meaning  made  plain ;  but  no  person  ever  has  both 
gifts. 

This  gift  prevailed  to  a  surprising  extent  among  the  Irving- 
ites  and  other  fanatical  sects  in  England,  and  was  there 
charitably  attributed  to  an  abnormal  condition  of  the  organs  of 
language ;  but  here  is  more  naturally  accounted  for  either  by 


"  THE  HOLY  OIL  BELIEVES  HER." 


(291) 


292  POLYGAMY;    OR,    THE    MYSTERIES 

imposture  or  the  effects  of  a  wild  fanaticism.  I  heard  it  but 
once,  »and  then  merely  repeated  by  a  devoted  Mormon  as  he 
had  heard  the  "  gifted  "  deliver  it,  and,  in  a  philological  in- 
quiry, I  should  pronounce  it  a  cognate  branch  of  that  "dog- 
latin  "  which  belongs  to  the  erudition  of  schoolboy  days.  This 
exercise  is  a  little  too  ridiculous,  even  for  the  Mormons  at 
present,  and  is  rarely  heard  of;  but  in  the  early  years  of  their 
church  it  was  a  frequent  occurrence,  whole  days  of "  speaking 
meetings  "  being  devoted  to  it.  An  old  apostate,  who  was  in 
the  church  at  Nauvoo,  tells  me  of  having  been  present  at  one 
of  those  meetings  where  the  first  doubts  began  to  arise  in  his 
mind  in  regard  to  his  new  faith.  Having  formerly  been  a 
trader  among  the  Choctaws,  he  suddenly  arose  and  delivered  a 
lengthy  speech  on  hunting  in  the  language  of  that  tribe,  which 
the  interpreter  rendered  into  a  glowing  and  florid  account  of 
the  glories  to  result  from  the  completion  of  the  Great  Temple, 
then  in  progress.  Lieutenant  Gunnison,  in  his  admirable  work, 
gives  an  account  of  one  lad  who  had  become  so  noted  in  the 
"interpretation  of  tongues"  that  he  was  generally  called  upon 
by  the  elders  in  the  most  difficult  cases,  and  seems  to  have  felt 
under  obligation  to  give  some  sort  of  rendering  and  meaning  to 
any  speech,  however  crude  or  whimsical.  On  one  occasion  a 
woman,  with  the  "  gifts  of  tongues,'7  suddenly  rose  in  the  meet- 
ing and  shouted,  "0  mela,  mdi,  melee!"  The  boy  was  at  once 
pressed  for  an  interpretation,  and  promptly  gave  the  rendition, 
"O  my  leg,  my  thigh,  my  knee!"  He  was  cited  before  the 
Council  for  his  profanity,  but  stoutly  maintained  that  his  in- 
terpretation was  "according  to  the  spirit,"  and  was  released 
with  an  admonition. 

Miss  Eliza  Snow,  the  Mormon  poetess,  was  particularly 
"  gifted  "  in  tongues ;  and,  according  to  the  account  of  young 
Mormons,  now  apostatized,  she  was  accustomed  often,  during 
their  early  journeyings,  to  rush  into  the  dwelling  of  some  other 
woman,  exclaiming,  "Sister,  I  want  to  bless  you!"  lay  her 
hands  upon  the  other's  head,  and  pour  forth  a  strain  of  con- 
fused jargon,  which  was  supposed  to  be  a  blessing  in  the 
"  unknown  tongue."  Such  are  the  various  "  gifts,"  and  to  a 


AND   CRIMES   OF    MORMONISM.  293 

people  less  blinded  by  fanaticism,  their  practical  effects  among 
the  Mormons  would  be  sufficient  to  disprove  the  claim  for  their 
divine  origin.  To  mention  but  one:  it  is  evident  to  any  intel- 
ligent observer  that  numerous  deaths  occur  in  Utah  simply 
from  a  disregard  of  hygienic  laws  and  a  lack  of  proper  medical 
treatment,  with  a  blind  reliance  upon  treatment  by  faith ;  and, 
notwithstanding  their  splendid  climate,  the  death-rate  of  the 
Mormons  is  unusually  large  from  those  very  classes  of  dis- 
ease for  which  any  intelligent  physician  can  afford  immediate 
relief. 

So  much  for  their  theology  as  it  relates  to  earth ;  I  have  not 
been  able  to  discover  the  exact  source  of  their  ideas  of  heaven. 
They  hold  that  there  are  three  heavens :  the  celestial,  terrestrial 
and  telestial,  typified  by  the  sun,  moon  and  stars.  The  last 
two  are  for  those  who  have  neither  obeyed  nor  disobeyed  the 
gospel ;  some  because  they  did  not  hear  it,  others  from  "  invin- 
cible ignorance,"  and  still  others  because  they  were  morally 
hindered  in  various  ways.  To  one  or  the  other  of  these  heavens 
all  sincere  people,  of  whatever  race  or  creed,  who  have  never 
heard  the  gospel,  but  followed  the  light  they  had,  will  be  ad- 
mitted, and  there  enjoy  as  much  happiness  as  they  are  capable 
of.  But  if  they  have  once  heard  the  true  gospel  and  refused  to 
obey  it,  have  persecuted  the  Saints  or  apostatized  and  lost  the 
spirit  of  God,  "  this  testimony  will  go  with  them  through  all 
eternity,  and  they  can  never  enter  a  rest."  Their  final  destiny, 
however,  is  not  revealed  to  mortals.  Woman,  in  and  of  her- 
self, could  never  progress  to  the  highest  place,  "As  Eve  led 
Adam  out  of  the  garden,  he  must  lead  her  back."  If  she  wil- 
fully remain  single  and  slight  the  great  duty  imposed  upon  her, 
she  is  useless  in  the  economy  of  creation,  and  therefore  is  con- 
demned. But  many  special  provisions  are  made  for  the  really 
worthy  of  both  sexes,  by  which  the  living  may  vicariously  atone 
for  the  dead  who  never  heard  the  gospel.  Baptism  for  the 
dead,  and  marriage  for  the  dead,  are  chief  among  these  means. 
The  former  they  found  upon  St.  Paul's  writings,  and  under  its 
provisions  the  Saint  is  often  baptized  for  some  relative  who 
died  many  years  before  in  Europe,  or  for  some  eminent  person- 


294  POLYGAMY, 

age.  George  Washington,  Benjamin  Franklin  and  Thomas 
Jefferson  are  thus  vicariously  members  of  the  Mormon  Church. 

The  celestial  heaven  is  theirs  only  who  have  both  heard  and 
obeyed  the  Gospel.  In  that  happy  state  they  enjoy  all  that 
made  this  life  desirable ;  they  eat,  drink,  and  are  merry ;  they 
are  solaced  by  the  embraces  of  their  earthly  wives,  and  many 
more  will  be  given  them ;  all  material  enjoyments  will  be  free 
from  the  defects  of  earth,  and  pleasures  will  never  pall.  In 
time  the  most  faithful  will  become  gods. 

"They  will  ever  look  upon  the  elements  as  their  home;  hence 
the  elements  will  ever  keep  pace  with  them  in  all  the  degrees 
of  progressive  refinement,  while  room  is  found  in  infinite 
space: 

"While  there  are  particles  of  unorganized  element  in  nature's 
store- house: 

"While  the  trees  of  paradise  yield  their  fruits,  or  the  foun- 
tain of  life  its  river: 

"While  the  bosoms  of  the  gods  glow  with  affection.  While 
eternal  charity  endures,  or  eternity  itself  rolls  its  successive  ages, 
the  heavens  will  multiply,  and  new  worlds  and  more  people  be 
added  to  the  kingdom  of  the  Fathers." 

But  there  is  still  another  class  of  persons  who  do  not  quite 
live  up  to  their  privileges,  and  yet  deserve  a  salvation.  Un- 
married men  and  women,  and  those  guilty  of  various  derelic- 
tions make  up  this  class.  They  will  never  progress,  but  be 
angds  merely;  messengers  and  servants  to  those  worthy  of 
greater  glory;  and  "bachelor  angels"  only,  with  110  families, 
and  compelled  to  go  through  eternity  without  a  mate.  And 
this  brings  me  to  the  last  of  the  five  heads  of  my  text : 

V.  A  plurality  of  wives,  on  which  I  need  add  but  little,  and 
that  as  to  theory  merely ;  I  have  given  an  account  of  it  practi- 
cally, and  the  history  of  Morraonism  is  largely  a  history  of 
polygamy.  The  crude  doctrines  of  "sexual  resurrection," 
"progress  in  eternity,"  "generation  of  spirits,"  and  marriage  of 
the  gods  all  interlock  with  the  doctrine  of  polygamy ;  and  it  is 
curious  how  captivating  a  veil  of  religious  fancy  may  be  thrown 
over  an  institution  naturally  and  inherently  vile.  Gross  forms 


A   DISCONSOLATE  PLURAL  WIFE. 


(295) 


296  POLYGAMY;    OR,   THE    MYSTERIES 

of  religious  error  seem  almost  invariably  to  lead  to  sensuality,  to 
some  singular  perversion  of  the  marriage  relation  or  the  sexual 
instinct ;  probably  because  the  same  constitution  of  mind  and 
temperament  which  gives  rise  to  the  one,  powerfully  predisposes 
toward  the  other.  The  fanatic  is  of  logical  necessity  either  an 
ascetic  or  a  sensualist ;  healthy  moderation  is  foreign  alike  to 
his  speculative  faith  and  social  practice.  He  either  gives  full 
rein  to  his  baser  propensities  under  the  specious  name  of 
"Christian  liberty,"  or  with  a  little  more  conscientiousness, 
swings  to  the  opposite  extreme  and  forbids  those  innocent  grat- 
ifications prompted  by  nature  and  permitted  by  God.  Of  the 
former  class  are  the  Mormons,  Noyseites  of  Oneida,  the  Anti- 
nomians,  and  the  followers  of  John  of  Leyden ;  of  the  latter 
the  Shakers,  Harmonists,  monks,  and  nuns,  and  a  score  of 
orders  of  celibate  priests. 

The  Mormons  are  particular  to  declare  that  they  never  would 
have  practiced  polygamy,  except  in  accordance  with  an  express 
revelation  from  God;  and  though  they  occasionally  defend  it  on 
various  physiological  and  scriptural  grounds,  they  always  fall 
back  upon  the  express  command:  given  July  12,  1843. 
Though  polygamy  was  in  fact  practised  long  before  that  date, 
their  present  defense  begins  there.  The  revelation  is  too  long 
to  quote  entire,  and  I  give  simply  the  main  heads : 

1.  It  opens  with  this  remarkable  statement,  the  Lord  repre- 
sented as  speaking: 

"Verily,  thus  saith  the  Lord  unto  you,  my  servant  Joseph, 
that  inasmuch  as  you  have  inquired  at  ray  hand  to  know 
wherein  I,  the  Lord,  justified  my  servants  Abraham,  Isaac,  and 
Jacob;  as  also  Moses,  David,  and  Solomon,  my  servants,  as 
touching  the  principle  and  doctrine  of  their  having  many  wives 
and  concubines;  behold,  and  lo,  I  am  the  Lord  and  will  answer 
thee  as  touching  this  matter,"  etc. 

It  will  not  escape  notice,  that  as  here  stated  Joseph  had  asked 
the  Lord  about  the  matter.  We  cannot  but  wonder  whether  it 
would  have  been  revealed  at  all,  without  this  preliminary  ques- 
tioning. Many  good  Mormons  think  it  would  not,  and  Mormon 
ladies  have  frequently  expressed  a  pious  regret  that  the  Prophet 


AND   CRIMES   OF    MORMONISM.  297 

ever  asked   about   it!     The  section  concludes  by  denouncing 
damnation  upon  all  who  reject  the  new  gospel. 

2.  This  section  states  that,  "All  covenants,  contracts,  bonds, 
obligations,  oaths,  vows,  performances,  connections,  associations, 
or  expectations  that  are  not  made  and  entered  into,  and  sealed 
by  the  Holy  Spirit  of  promise  of  him  who  is  anointed,"  are 
void  in  eternity,  and  only  good  for  this  world. 

It  sets   forth   also  with    great  verbosity  of  language,  that 
"God's  house  is  a  house  of  order." 

3.  The  same  principle  is  applied  to  the  marriage  covenant, 
stating  that  all  who  are  not  married,  "and  sealed  according  to 
the  new  and  everlasting  covenant,"  are  married  for  this  world 
only,  and  shall  not  be  entitled  to  their  respective  partners  in 
eternity,  but  shall  continue  "angels  only,  and  not  gods,  kept  as 
ministers  to  those  who  are  worthy  of  a  far  more  exceeding  and 
eternal  weight  of  glory." 

4.  Description  of  the  future  glory  of  those  who  keep  the 
new  covenant:  "Then  shall  they  be  gods  because  they  have  no 
end;  there  they  shall  be  from  everlasting  to  everlasting,  because 
they  continue;  then  shall  they  be  above  all,  because  all  things 
are  subject  unto  them.     Then  shall  they  be  gods,  because  they 
have  all  power,  and  the  angels  are  subject  unto  them" 

5.  To  such  are  forgiven  all  manner  of  crimes,  except  murder, 
"wherein  they  shed  innocent  blood,"  and  blasphemy  against  the 
Holy  .Ghost.     Apostasy,  be  it  noted,  is  the  worst  form  of  the 
latter  sin. 

6.  This  section  explains  the  cases  of  Abraham  and  other 
ancient  polygamists  at  great  length,  concluding  by  citing  David 
as  an  example  of  how  men  lose  their  "exaltation"  by  abusing 
their  privileges :  "  In  none  of  these  things  did  he  sin  against 
me,  save  in  the  case  of  Uriah  and  his  wife,  and,  therefore,  tie 
hath  fallen  from  his  exaltation  and  received  his  position;  and 
he  shall  not  inherit  them  out  of  the  world,  for  I  gave  them  unto 
another,  saith  the  Lord." 

7.  Great  power  is  conferred  upon  Joseph  Smith  to  regulate 
all  such  celestial  marriages,  punish  for  adultery,  and  take  away 
the  wives  of  the  guilty  and  give  them  to  good  men. 


298 


POLYGAMY  ;    OR,   THE   MYSTERIES 


8.  This  section  gives  very  full  and  explicit  instructions  to 
Emma  Smith,  wife  of  Joseph,  how  to  conduct  herself  under 


any 
the 


the  new  dispensation ;  that  she 
"receive  all  those  that  have 
been  given  unto  my  servant 
Joseph,  who  are  virtuous  and 
pure  before  me/'  and  threaten- 
ing her  with  destruction  if  she 
do  not. 

9.  The   revelation    changes 
abruptly    and    gives    Joseph 
Smith  full  directions   how  to 
manage  his  property  ;  particu- 
lary  "let  not  my  servant  Jo- 
seph put  his  property  out  of  his 
hands,  lest  an  enemy  come  and 
destroy  him,"  and  threatening 
severely  all  who  injure  him. 

The  reader  familiar^  with 
the  old  Revised  Statutes  of  Il- 
linois, would  be  surprised  to 
find  the  "Lord"  talking  so 
much  like  a  Justice  of  the 
Peace. 

10.  The    revelation   comes, 
at   last,   to    the    gist    of   the 
matter  and  grants  plurality  of 
wives,  in  these  words: 

And  again,  as  pertaining  to  the  law  of  the  priesthood :  If 
man  espouse  a  virgin  and  desires  to  espouse  another,  and 
first  give  her  consent ;  and  if  he  espouse  the  second,  and 


AND   CRIMES   OF    MORMONISM.  299 

they  are  virgins,  and  have  vowed  to  no  other  man,  then  is 
he  justified ;  he  cannot  commit  adultery  for  they  are  given  unto 
him ;  for  he  cannot  commit  adultery  with  that  that  belongeth 
unto  him  and  to  none  else ;  and  if  he  have  ten  virgins  given 
unto  him  by  this  law,  he  cannot  commit  adultery  for  they  belong 
to  him  and  are  given  unto  him  ;  therefore  is  he  justified.  They 
are  given  unto  him  to  multiply  and  replenish  the  earth 
according  to  my  commandment,  and  to  fulfil  the  promise  which 
was  given  by  my  Father  before  the  foundation  of  the  world ; 
and  for  their  exaltation  in  the  eternal  worlds,  that  they  may 
bear  the  souls  of  men ;  for  herein  is  the  work  of  my  Father 
continued,  that  he  may  be  glorified." 

11.  Heavy  punishment  is  threatened  to  all  women  who  re- 
fuse, without  good  cause,  to  give  their  husbands  second  wives; 
concluding  as  follows :  "And  now,  as  pertaining  unto  this  law, 
verily,  verily,  I  say  unto  you,  I  will  reveal  more  unto  you  here- 
after ;  therefore,  let  this  suffice  for  the  present.  Behold,  I  am 
Alpha  and  Omega.  Amen." 

Such  is  the  revelation.  Space  fails  me  to  note  all  its  contra- 
dictions and  absurdities.  One,  however,  is  worthy  of  special  re- 
mark. In  the  eighth  section  Emma  Smith  is  commanded  to  re- 
ceive lovingly  "  all  those  that  have  been  given  unto  my  servant 
Joseph."  The  past  tense  is  used.  Thus  the  first  revelation 
authorizing  polygamy  implies  that  Joseph  had  already  prac- 
tised it.  Stranger  still,  polygamy  is  expressly  forbidden  by  the 
"Book  of  Mormon." 

In  the  third  book  and  second  chapter  of  that  work,  the  angel 
messenger  is  represented  as  saying  to  the  Nephites :  "  But  the 
word  of  God  burdens  me  because  of  your  grosser  crimes.  For 
this  people  begin  to  wax  in  iniquity ;  they  understand  not  the 
scriptures,  for  they  seek  to  excuse  themselves  in  committing 
whoredoms,  because  of  the  things  that  were  written  concerning 
David  and  Solomon,  his  son.  They,  truly,  had  many  wives  and 
concubines  which  thing  was  abominable  before  me,  saith  the 
Lord,  wherefore,  hearken  unto  the  word  of  the  Lord,  for  there 
shall  not  any  man  among  you  have  save  it  be  one  wife,  and  con- 
cubines he  shall  have  none,  for  I,  the  Lord  God,  delighteth  in 
the  chastity  of  women." 


300  POLYGAMY;    OR,   THE    MYSTERIES 

It  has  exhausted  all  the  ingenuity  of  Mormon  writers  to  re- 
concile this  passage  with  the  new  revelation,  but  they  succeed  in 
doing  so  sufficiently  to  satisfy  their  consciences.  The  Mormon 
history  relates  that  when  the  full  force  of  the  new  covenant  was 
perceived  the  Prophet  was  filled  with  astonishment  and  dread. 
All  the  traditions  of  his  early  education  were  overthrown,  and 
yet  he  felt  that  it  was  the  work  of  the  Lord.  In  vain  he  sought 
to  be  released  from  the  burden  of  communicating  the  new  doc- 
trine to  the  world,  and  at  length  obtained  permission  to  keep  it 
secret  from  all  but  the  chief  men.  When  the  hour  drew  near 
for  him  to  announce  it  to  his  council,  fear  overcame  him,  and 
mounting  his  horse  he  fled  from  the  city ;  but  a  mighty  angel 
met  him  in  the  way,  and  menacing  him  with  a  flaming  sword, 
commanded  his  return.  His  account  does  not  complete  the 
parody  :  apparently  his  eyesight  was  better  than  Balaam's,  and 
his  horse  was  not  favored  as  was  Balaam's  ass.  Perhaps  the 
explanation  is  to  be  found  in  a  set  of  phrenological  charts,  of  the 
various  Mormon  leaders  at  Nauvoo,  taken  by  a  prominent  pro- 
fessor. In  the  chart  of  Joseph  Smith's  head,  in  a  scale  running 
from  one  to  twelve,  "  amativeness,"  or  sexual  passion,  is  re- 
corded at  eleven  ;  while  that  of  Bennet,  his  "  right  hand  man," 
is  set  down  at  "  ten — very  full !  "  In  the  propensity  which 
these  are  held  to  indicate,  was  the  real  origin  of  polygamy. 

For  nine  years  after  the  date  of  the  revelation  all  Mormon 
writers  and  preachers  vehemently,  even  profanely,  denied  the 
existence  of  polygamy ;  and  now  consider  it  a  good  joke  that 
they  fooled  the  Gentiles,  especially  President  Fill  more.  It 
took  a  long  while  to  hammer  the  new  doctrine  into  shape ;  but 
the  doctrine  of  baptism  for  the  dead  was  easily  extended  to  mar- 
riage for  the  dead,  and  many  Mormons  have  "  wives  for  eter- 
nity," on  whom  they  have  no  claims  in  this  world.  People 
outside  of  the  Mormon  church  and  unfamiliar  with  its  teaching, 
can  form  no  idea  of  the  immense  difficulties  encountered  by  the 
apostolic  polemics  in  reconciling  the  Scriptures  with  the  revela- 
tion. If  the  average  Gentile  were  asked  the  blunt  question : 
"  Does  the  Bible  forbid  polygamy  ?  "  he  would  at  first  be  at  a 
loss  to  show  that  it  does.  But  when  he  studies  it  thoroughly 


AND   CRIMES   OF   MORMONISM.  301 

with  an  eye  to  that  point,  he  will  be  amazed  to  find  how  much 
there  is  in  it  which  raises  a  strong  presumption  against  the  sys- 
tem, and  how  much  is  utterly  irreconcilable  with  the  Mormon 
doctrine  that  no  unmarrie*d  man  can  be  exalted  in  eternity,  and 
that  one's  heavenly  kingdom  depends  on  the  size  of  his  family. 
And,  most  singular  of  all,  these  points  have  been  most  clearly 
brought  out,  and  the  strongest  argument  against  polygamy  made 
by  the  sons  of  Joseph  Smith  and  their  followers — the  Josephite 
or  monogamous  Mormons.  Among  their  strong  points  are 
these : 

The  Bible  gives  a  circumstantial  account  of  some  three  hun- 
dred worthies,  priests,  prophets,  kings  and  patriarchs,  of  whom 
only  thirteen  were  polygaraists,  and  a  large  number  had  not 
even  one  wife.  The  Bible  often  lays  stress  on  the  fact — indeed, 
the  writer  seems  to  frequently  go  out  of  his  way  to  specify  that 
such  a  one  had  but  one  wife  or  none. 

In  no  case  whatever  is  there  a  specific  call  of  a  polygamist  to 
a  specific  work,  except,  possibly,  in  the  cases  of  David  and 
Solomon  ;  and  at  the  five  great  epochs,  so  to  speak,  the  central 
figure  was  a  monogamist.  Thus :  God  started  the  human  race 
with  Adam  and  one  wife ;  preserved  the  race  by  Noah  and  three 
sons,  with  one  wife  each,  drowning  all  the  polygamists ;  fixed 
the  divine  succession  in  Isaac  and  his  one  wife,  rejecting  the  po- 
lygamist; brought  out,  ruled  and  formed  the  Jews  into  a  nation 
by  the  one-wifed  Moses,  and  finally  sent  a  Saviour  who,  though 
a  man  and  a  citizen  in  all  else,  took  no  wife. 

In  every  case  of  polygamy  the  record  carefully  states  that  it 
led  directly  to  a  quarrel,  and  often  to  murder  and  idolatry ;  and 
a  harmonious  polygamous  family  is  nowhere  mentioned.  Wit- 
ness Sarah  and  Hagar ;  Jacob's  wives  and  children  ;  the  Levites' 
idolatrous  wives;  David's  quarreling  children,  and  Solomon's 
apostasy. 

As  to  Abraham,  the  Josephites  say  he  had  but  one  wife  at  a 
time ;  Sarah  died  before  he  took  Keturah,  and  he  never  mar- 
ried Hagar.  The  Lord  had  nothing  to  do  with  that  affair ;  the 
record  explicitly  states  that  it  was  all  the  work  of  Sarah,  who 
tried  to  help  the  Lord  keep  his  promise  about  the  son ;  that  she 


802  POLYGAMY. 

got  angry  at  her  success,  reproached  Abraham,  and  drove  away 
Hagar ;  that  the  Lord  in  express  terms  rejected  the  illegitimate 
son,  in  spite  of  Abraham's  prayers,  would  not  allow  him  to  be 
called  an  heir,  and  stigmatized  him  *as  the  son  of  the  bond- 
woman. As  to  Jacob,  he  was  tricked  into  polygamy  by  a 
heathen  father-in-law,  and  the  number  of  children  given  shows 
plainly  that  his  sons  did  not  generally  go  into  the  practice.  As 
the  Hebrews  in  the  wilderness  had  600,000  fighting  men,  and 
no  excess  of  women  and  children,  one  of  two  conclusions  must 
be  accepted  :  either  there  was  but  one  wife  for  one  man,  or  able- 
bodied  men,  with  arms  in  their  hands  and  without  being  so 
commanded,  voluntarily  surrendered  their  rights  to  allow  a  few 
chief  men  to  maintain  harems !  Every  enumeration  shows 
there  were  as  many  men  as  women,  and  after  the  Mosaic  law  as 
to  sexual  relations  was  adopted,  it  was  morally,  or  rather  phy- 
siologically, certain  that  many  more  boys  would  be  born  than 
girls  (Leviticus  xv.)  Even  among  those  modern  Jews  who  ob- 
serve that  law,  there  is  a  vast  excess  of  male  births.  To  sup- 
pose that  among  such  a  people  polygamy  was  anything  more 
than  a  very  rare  exception  is  to  reason  against  the  nature  of 
things.  The  facts  are  conclusive  that  only  a  few  kings  and 
leaders  followed  the  Oriental  custom,  and  took  wives  according 
to  their  rank  ;  and  the  probability  is  great  that  there  never  were 
at  one  time  a  hundred  polygamous  husbands  in  all  Israel. 

I  have  cited  but  a  few  of  many  telling  points  the  Josephites 
make  from  the  Bible;  but  as  to  the  revelation  of  1843,  they 
literally  riddle  it  with  logic  and  sarcasm.  They  point  out  that 
it  speaks  of  Isaac  and  Moses  as  polygamists,  when  both  were  in 
fact  monogamists ;  that  it  says  God  "justified  "  David  and  Solo- 
mon, while  the  Book  of  Mormon  says  they  committed  an 
abomination ;  that  it  contradicts  all  the  old  standard  authorities 
of  Mormonism,  and  never  was  brought  to  light  till  nine  years 
after  its  assumed  date,  and  the  alleged  author's  death !  The 
Gentile  reader  can  hardly  appreciate  the  fierce  interest  of  the 
rival  sects  in  this  debate ;  but  it  is  the  very  irony  of  fate  that 
the  hardest  blows  at  Utah  polygamy  should  have  been  given  by 
the  sons  of  Joseph  Smith. 


AN  ENGLISH  WOMAN'S  FIBST  KNOWLEDGE  OF  POLYGAMY. 


#04  POLYGAMY;     OR,    THE    MYSTERIES 

The  Brighamites  affect  to  treat  all  this  with  contempt,  hut  it 
evidently  worries  them  a  great  deal,  and  I  know  not  how  many 
thousand  sermons  have  been  preached  in  Utah  to  reconcile  the 
contradictions.  At  first  I  listened  to  them  with  much  interest, 
but  soon  grew  weary  of  the  ceaseless  flow  of  twaddle.  Orson 
Hyde  took  for  his  specialty  the  case  of  Christ,  and  proved  to  his 
own  satisfaction  that  the  Saviour  had  five  wives,  including 
Martha  and  Mary.  The  following  from  Hyde's  sermon  is  as 
clear  as  mud : 

"  If  at  the  marriage  at  Cana  of  Galilee,  Jesus  was  the  bride- 
groom and  took  unto  him  Mary,  Martha,  and  the  other  Mary 
whom  Jesus  loved,  it  shocks  not  our  nerves.  If  there  were  not 
an  attachment  and  familiarity  between  our  Saviour  and  these 
women  highly  improper,  only  in  the  relation  of  husband  and 
wife,  then  we  have  no  sense  of  propriety,  or  of  the  characteris- 
tics of  good  and  refined  society.  Wisely  then  was  it  concealed  ; 
but,  when  the  Saviour  poured  out  his  soul  unto  death,  when 
nailed  to  the  cross,  he  saw  his  seed  of  children,  but  who  shall 
declare  his  generation  ?  " 

Orson  Pratt  took  up  the  figures  in  the  Pentateuch,  and 
proved  that  each  head  of  a  family  had  about  a  hundred  chil- 
dren ;  but  afterwards  he  seemed  to  get  new  light  (I  suspect  he 
had  meanwhile  read  Colenso)  and  decided  that  the  whole  record 
was  mutilated,  and  we  must  wait  for  an  inspired  translation. 
Then  Brigham  travelled  meanderingly  over  the  whole  ground, 
and  ended  with  an  assertion  of  his  Adam-god  theory,  as 
follows : 

"  Now  hear  it,  O  inhabitants  of  the  earth,  Jew  and  Gentile, 
Saint  and  sinner!  When  our  father  Adam  came  into  the  Gar- 
den of  Eden,  he  came  into  it  with  a  celestial  body,  and  brought 
Eve,  one  of  his  wives,  with  him.  He  helped  to  make  and 
organize  this  world.  He  is  Michael  the  Archangel,  the  Ancient 
of  Days!  about  whom  holy  men  have  written  and  spoken.  He 
is  our  Father  and  our  God,  and  the  only  God  with  whom  we 
have  to  do.  Every  man  upon  the  earth,  professing  Christians 
or  non-professing,  must  hear  it,  and  will  know  it  sooner  or 
later." 


AND   CRIMES   OF   MORMONISM.  305 

At  a  later  date,  he  repudiated  the  Bible  narrative  of  Crea- 
tion: 

"You  believe  Adam  was  made  of  the  dust  of  this  earth. 
This  I  do  not  believe.  .  .  You  can  write  that  information  to 
the  States  if  you  please — that  I  have  publicly  declared  that  I 
do  not  believe  that  portion  of  the  Bible  as  the  Christian  world 
do.  I  never  did,  and  I  never  want  to.  Because  I  have  come 
to  understanding,  and  banished  from  my  mind  all  the  baby- 
stories  my  mother  taught  me  when  I  was  a  child." 

One  step  more  was  wanted,  and  the  apostle  Heber  C.  Kim- 
ball  took  it  when  he  announced  that  Brigham  himself  was 
"  God  to  this  people/'  For  a  while  this  claim  was  allowed  by 
some;  but  at  last  the  people  kicked  against  it.  And  thereafter 
no  new  doctrine  was  added — the  Mormon  canon  was  full. 

Amusement  and  disgust  possess  us  by  turns  as  we  pursue 
these  blasphemous  speculations  in  regard  to  the  employment  of 
the  gods,  or  the  vain  attempt  to  supply  those  points  of  knowl- 
edge which  Infinite  Wisdom  has  left  unrevealed.  The  Mor- 
mons are  Christians  in  their  belief  in  the  New  Testament,  and 
the  mission  of  Christ ;  Jews  in  their  temporal  theocracy,  tithing 
and  belief  in  prophecy ;  Mohammedans  in  regard  to  the  rela- 
tions of  the  sexes,  and  Voudoos  or  Fetichists,  in  their  witch- 
craft, good  and  evil  spirits,  faith  doctoring  and  superstition. 
From  the  Boodhists  they  have  stolen  their  doctrines  of  apotheo- 
sis and  development  of  gods  ;  from  the  Greek  mythology  their 
loves  of  the  immortals  and  spirits ;  they  have  blended  the  ideas 
of  many  nations  of  polytheists,  and  made  the  whole  consistent 
by  outdoing  the  materialists.  In  the  labor  of  harmonizing  all 
this  with  Christianity,  there  is  scarcely  a  schism  that  has  ever 
rent  the  Christian  world,  but  has  furnished  some  scraps  of  doc- 
trine. They  are  Arians  in  making  Christ  a  secondary  being  in 
the  Godhead — "  the  greatest  of  created  things  and  yet  a  crea- 
ture;" they  are  Manicheans  in  their  division  of  the  universe 
between  good  and  evil  spirits,  and  something  worse  in  their 
gross  ascription  of  all  human  indulgences  and  enjoyments  to 
the  Saviour.  Of  the  modern  sects,  they  have  the  order  of  ser- 
vice, "experience  meetings"  and  "  witness  of  the  spirit"  of  the 
20 


306  POLYGAMY;   OR,   THE   MYSTERIES 

Methodists;  the  "first  principles "  and  the  universal  suffrage 
of  the  Christians ;  while  their  views  on  the  "  perseverance  of 
the  Saints,"  backsliding  and  restoration,  read  like  a  desperate 
attempt  to  combine  the  doctrines  of  the  Methodists  and  Cum- 
berland Presbyterians.  Finally,  they  are  Millenarians  in  their 
speedy  expectation  of  Christ's  earthly  reign  ;  almost  Universal- 
ists  in  the  belief  that  a  very  small  portion  of  mankind  will 
finally  fail  of  any  heaven ;  Spiritualists  in  their  faith  that  the 
unseen  powers  produce  special  and  actual  visible  effects  on 
earth,  though  by  natural  laws,  and  Communists  in  their  system 
of  public  works.  But  it  is  in  regard  to  the  personality  and 
life  of  Christ  that  their  ideas  seem  most  strange  and  blasphe- 
mous. They  hold  that  He  was  the  literally  begotten,  that  he 
had  five  wives  while  upon  earth,  and  thus  actually  violated  the 
law  under  which  He  lived ;  at  the  same  time  they  vaguely 
unite  the  views  of  Greek  and  Latin  Fathers,  holding  Him  both 
the  Logos  and  the  Aeon,  the  Mediator  and  the  God-man. 

The  question  which  for  centuries  agitated  the  early  church 
as  to  the  personality  of  Christ,  the  homoousian  and  the 
homoiousian,  the  "same  substance"  or  the  "similar  substance," 
can  have  no  place  in  their  theology ;  they  have  boldly  evaded 
it  by  obliterating  all  distinction,  either  in  form,  substance  or 
development,  between  God  and  man ;  both  are  alike  material 
and  differ  only  in  degree.  Met  at  the  outset  by  the  difficulty 
of  comprehending  God,  they  simplified  it  by  making  their  Deity 
a  "perfected  man." 

The  gross  familiarity  with  which  the  Mormons  speak  of  the 
Supreme  Being,  their  claim  of  the  office  of  the  Holy  Ghost, 
their  polygamy,  incest  and  blood-atonement,  are  a  necessary 
and  logical  result  of  this  degrading  conception  of  spiritual 
things.  Xowhere  through  the  long  detail  of  their  tenets  is 
purity  taught  or  hinted  at.  It  is  all  pure  selfishness,  mere 
grossness,  sexualism  deified  and  the  domain  of  the  senses  made 
the  empire  of  the  universe.  The  Being,  in  whose  sight  "  the 
heavens  are  not  clean,"  who  "  put  no  trust  in  His  servants  and 
charged  His  angels  with  folly,"  who  is  far  above  all  taint  of 
earthltness,  has  no  place  in  such  a  system.  They  have  de- 


AND   CRIMES   OF    MORMONISM.  307 

graded  the  human  conception  of  Deity,  till  He  nas  become  in 
their  minds  "altogether  such  a  one  as  themselves."  The 
heathen  philosophers  of  two  thousand  years  ago,  with  only  the 
unaided  light  of  reason,  were  infinitely  their  superiors;  and 
Plato's  Deity  is  as  much  more  worthy  of  our  adoration  than 
Brigham's,  as  the  loftiest  conceptions  of  a  refined  and  virtuous 
philosopher  are  above  the  impure  imaginations  of  a  sensualist 


CHAPTER  XV, 

MORMON  SOCIETY. 

/*  supposition — Collection  of  the  queer  ones — A  few  sharp  managers—The 
unfortunate  and  criminal  —  " Sydney  Coves "  —  " Hickory  Mormons"  — 
Broad  humor — Poetesses,  as  it  were — A  rich  field  for  satire — The  badly 
tithed  victim — Lying  for  one's  religion. 

Do  you  know,  thoughtful  reader,  a  man  in  your  neighbor- 
hood whose  intellect  is  wholly  given  up  to  prying  and  supposi- 
tion as  to  unseen  things :  a  good  carpenter  or  skillful  farmer, 
perhaps,  not  a  bad  neighbor  in  a  general  way,  but  prone  to  the 
outre  alike  in  art,  science,  mechanics,  medicine  and  religion? 
He  is  a  man  who  progresses  with  wonderful  rapidity  just  so  far, 
then  stops  for  good  and  all;  the  superficial  he  acquires  with  ease, 
and  reasons  on  it  with  astonishing  vigor  and  plausibility ;  but 
never  even  by  accident  gets  down  to  broad  general  principles. 
If  a  mechanic,  he  is  morally  certain  to  spend  much  time  trying 
to  invent  a  perpetual  motion  ;  if  a  farmer,  no  experience  will 
cure  him  of  certain  unscientific  notions  as  to  stock,  crops  and 
weather ;  if  he  reads  medicine,  he  is  apt  to  fancy  that  there  is 
some  wonderful  elixir  that  will  "  restore  lost  manhood,"  and 
that  away  off  in  the  wilderness,  back  of  a  rock  or  in  the  woods 
in  a  wigwam,  there  is  an  "Injin  doctor"  who  has  compounded 
out  of  roots  and  herbs  an  infallible  cure  for  consumption.  He 
plants  according  to  the  moon,  digs  when  the  "  sign  "  is  right, 
slaughters  his  stock  in  the  light  of  the  moon,  and  is  positive 
government  could  create  cheap  capital  by  some  financial  sleight- 
of-hand.  If  somewhat  spiritually  inclined,  he  reads  Daniel, 
Ezekiel  and  Revelation;  the  "wheels  within  wheels"  whirl 
before  his  dazed  fancy,  and  the  beast  with  seven  heads  and  ten 
horns  gallops  recklessly  through  his  riotous  imagination.  He 


AND  CRIMES  OF   MORMONISM.  309 

tells  his  dreams;  he  is  often  "  warned;"  would  not  have  a  hoe 
or  ax  carried  through  the  chamber  of  his  gravid  wife  for  any 
money,  and  can  foretell  the  sex  of  the  next  baby  by  the  wrinkles 
on  the  hips  of  the  last  one. 

If  you  do  know  such  a  man — and  of  course  you  do;  for  there 
is  at  least  one  such  in  every  township  in  the  country — then 
imagine  fifty  thousand  such,  swept  by  a  wind  of  fanaticism  into 
one  Territory,  each  aggravating  the  other's  infirmity,  and  with 
a  hundred  swindling  Yankees  to  manage  them,  and  you  will 
have  the  basis  of  Utah  society.  Of  course  the  moral  and  social 
conduct  of  such  people  depends  almost  entirely  on  the  hands 
into  which  they  fall ;  the  mass  is  wax,  which  a  skillful  hand 
can  mould  into  a  thing  of  beauty,  or  harden  into  a  missile  to 
knock  your  brains  out.  Hence  the  curious  contradictions  one 
may  find  in  Utah :  in  one  settlement  the  people  are  so  pleasant 
and  hospitable  as  to  leave  nothing  to  be  desired ;  in  the  next 
they  are  cross,  contentious  and  in  a  petty  way  dishonest.  And 
the  whole  difference  may  depend  on  the  character  of  the  bishop, 
or  the  bent  given  the  settlement  at  the  start  by  a  few  leading 
men. 

But  these  constitute  only  the  basis ;  there  are  other  classes, 
some  of  whom  have  occupied  a  most  unenviable  position. 
There  were  the  middle  class  English  elders,  men  who  had  been 
Chartists  or  extreme  Liberals  in  England,  and  hoped  to  realize 
the  brotherhood  of  man  in  the  Rocky  mountains.  There  were 
a  few  ladies  of  real  refinement  and  deep  spirituality,  who  un- 
happily fell  into  the  delusion  from  hearing  it  presented  just  at 
the  time  they  were  seeking  rest  to  their  souls.  There  were  a* 
few  who  took  up  Mormonism  from  mere  soul-weariness,  and 
many  from  mere  restlessness  and  love  of  adventure.  To  these 
must  be  added  a  class  of  blacker  record  :  "  Sydney  Coves,"  so- 
called,  who  came  from  England  to  Utah  by  way  of  Australia  or 
Van  Diemen's  land.  Also  a  few  of  the  many  desperadoes  who 
adhered  to  the  Saints  in  Illinois  followed  them  to  Utah.  Some 
business  and  professional  men  went  into  the  church  for  mere 
convenience.  And  at  the  bottom  of  the  list  is  that  vilest, 
most  loathed,  most  detestable  of  all  created  things — the  Mor- 
mon spy. 


310  POLYGAMY. 

I  wish  the  English  language  contained  some  suitable  term  to 
describe  this  creature.  Suffice  it  to  say  that  all  we  know  of 
eavesdroppers  in  the  States,  or  dishonest  detectives  in  the  cities, 
and  all  we  read  of  the  dark  intrigues  of  old  Italian  courts  or 
Spanish  Jesuits,  give  but  a  hint  at  the  deep  damnation  of  his 
treachery.  I  am  well  aware  that  all  governments  must  occa- 
sionally accept  vile  services  and  employ  men  whom  gentlemen 
could  not  associate  with  ;  but  neither  in  morals  nor  politics  is 
there  any  excuse  for  the  tricks  which  have  been,  and  probably 
still  are,  practiced  by  the  Salt  Lake  police  and  their  underlings. 
It  seems  that  nothing  is  too  low  for  them.  I  have  known  one 
to  crawl  along  the  garden  rows  to  catch  the  conversation  of  an 
apostate.  I  have  heard  one  testify  to  the  performance  of  most 
indecent  acts,  to  induce  a  party  to  violate  a  city  ordinance,  in 
order  to  trap  him.  And  one  gentleman  says  that  in  the  broad 
light  of  day,  by  mere  accident,  he  routed  one  out  of  a  sugar 
hogshead  in  which  he  was  concealed. 

Like  almost  every  evil,  however,  this  has  its  ludicrous  fea- 
tures; and  more  than  once  during  my  residence  in  Utah,  the 
Gentiles  were  amused  at  the  overthrow  of  some  pretentious 
fellow  whom  we  felt  to  be  no  honor  to  us.  The  "  masher  "  is 
not  unknown  even  in  the  Rocky  mountains ;  and  there  is  prob- 
ably no  place  in  America  where  that  character  pays  for  his  folly 
so  surely  and  heavily  as  in  Utah.  The  Mormons  claim  that 
their  penalty  for  illicit  love  is  death.  It  may  be  so  in  rare  in- 
stances, especially  where  the  guilty  man  is  one  whose  death  is 
desired  anyhow;  and  there  was  a  time  long  ago  when  their 
fanaticism  led  them  to  inflict  the  penalty  on  mere  suspicion. 
In  those  dark  days  a  flirtation  with  a  Mormon  girl  was  like 
eating  honey  off  the  edge  of  a  bowie-knife.  But  even  at  that 
day  the  man  of  means,  and  not  specially  obnoxious,  could  buy 
out,  but  at  great  price.  Mary  Ettie  Smith,  in  her  "  Fifteen 
Years  Among  the  Mormons,"  gives  an  amusing  account  of  such 
a  case  in  which  she  acted  as  "decoy,"  which  old  Saints  say  is 
literally  true.  In  1869  there  was  in  Salt  Lake  a  restaurateur 
whom  we  may  call  Jones,  a  sort  of  mauvais  sujet  in  morals,  and 
very  impatient  under  advice,  who  succumbed  to  the  wiles  of  one 


312  POLYGAMY. 

"  Brimhall " — so-called,  whether  it  was  her  real  name  or  not — 
then  a  new  decoy  and  not  suspecte.  The  denouement  was  a 
comedy :  a  scream,  a  rush,  and  the  convenient  police  soon  had 
Mr.  Jones  in  custody  on  charge  of  "  attempt."  He  was  terribly 
frightened — did  not  consider  his  chances  for  life  worth  a  nickel. 
But  the  Mormons  knew  to  a  dollar  how  much  he  had ;  his  bail 
was  placed  at  $1,100,  and  by  selling  all  he  owned  he  raised 
and  deposited  the  amount.  Once  at  liberty,  the  convenient 
"father"  came  after  him  with  a  shot-gun ;  Jones  fled,  and  next 
day  his  bail  was  declared  forfeit,  and  without  recourse.  He 
walked  to  the  Nevada  mines,  dependent  on  miners'  charity  for 
food. 

These  are  given  only  as  specimen  cases.  While  Jeter  Clin- 
ton was  City  Magistrate  of  Salt  Lake,  this  "milking  the  Gen- 
tiles," as  it  was  called,  was  carried  to  extraordinary  lengths; 
and  of  course  men  who  would  do  that  sort  of  thing  would  not 
hesitate  at  blacker  crimes.  These  tools  of  theocracy  are  men 
who  have  been  unfortunate  or  criminal  elsewhere,  and  fled  to 
Mormonism  for  a  refuge.  Broken-down  merchants,  profes- 
sional men  without  character,  and  the  "bilks"  and  "dead 
beats"  of  other  communities  generally,  who  have  been  deceived 
by  the  representations  of  progress  there,  and  expected  to  better 
themselves  by  casting  their  fortunes  with  a  rising  sect.  And 
from  this  class  have  originated  many  of  the  Mormon  troubles, 
in  times  past.  They  often  become  dissatisfied  and  turbulent, 
and  often  apostatize,  but  have  too  little  fixedness  of  sentiment, 
and  too  much  dullness  of  moral  perception  to  be  of  any  value 
to  either  side.  Some  of  them  seek  easy  positions  under  the 
hierarchy;  others,  more  desperate,  sink  lower,  and  become  the 
mere  tools  of  the  leaders  to  do  all  their  dirty  and  infamous 
work.  Mutual  guilt  then  makes  them  mutual  spies,  and  con- 
scious that  their  lives  are  in  the  power  of  their  masters,  they 
live  as  guilty  and  miserable  slaves,  with  the  assured  knowledge 
that,  at  the  slightest  disloyal  move,  their  lives  will  pay  the  for- 
feit. More  than  one  of  this  class  have  met  with  a  bloody  death, 
from  the  simple  fact  that  they  knew  too  much,  as  abundantly 
proved. 


314  POLYGAMY;   OR,   THE   MYSTERIES 

Another  and  a  rather  hopeless  class  in  Utah  consists  of  those 
who  became  Mormons  sincerely,  but  from  slight  or  insufficient 
motives.  They  united  with  the  sect,  with  as  much  sincerity  as 
they  were  capable  of,  but  with  no  clear  understanding  of  what 
was  before  them.  Before  embracing  Mormonism,  they  were 
generally  afloat  on  religious  subjects,  or  dissatisfied  with  what 
they  saw  in  their  own  churches,  and  had  fallen  into  the  dan- 
gerous habit  of  suspecting  all  men  of  hypocrisy.  I  have  met 
dozens  of  this  class  who  have  been  "lobby  members"  of  the 
Methodist,  Baptist,  Presbyterian,  and  "Campbellite"  Churches; 
that  weak,  feeble  class  of  Christians  who  expect  the  Church  to 
pick  them  up  and  carry  them  to  heaven,  carefully  lifting  them 
over  the  rough  places  in  the  road,  and  removing  every  annoy- 
ing doubt  which  will  rise  in  an  idle  or  vapid  brain.  I  have 
heard  them  speak  of  their  churches  as  "stationary,"  or  "sleepy," 
never  dreaming  that  the  fault  was  in  themselves.  They  were 
the  weak,  discontented  disciples,  without  the  fierce  vigor  and 
aggressive  spirit  of  the  true  Church ;  not  having  learned  the 
first  principle  of  Christianity  to  be  zealous,  unselfish  labor. 
In  this  state  of  mind  their  attention  is  caught  and  fancy  capti- 
vated by  the  claim  of  a  new  revelation,  of  holding  direct  com- 
munion with  heaven,  of  walking  every  day  in  new  lighi 
received  from  without ;  and  also  at  thought  of  a  distinctively 
American  religion,  with  saints,  apostles,  prophets  and  martyrs, 
all  of  our  own  race  and  time.  This  class  are  very  enthusiastic 
on  first  reaching  the  new  Zion,  but  often  grow  discontented, 
and  fall  again  into  their  doubting  and  querulous  habits.  But 
as  they  did  not  think  their  way  into  Mormonism,  they  cannot 
think  themselves  out,  and  so  they  simply  float.  Sometimes 
they  apostatize,  but  are  no  loss  to  the  Church  and  no  gain  to 
the  Gentiles,  from  pure  lack  of  intellectual  vigor. 

But  there  are  enough,  after  deducting  all  the  hypocrites,  who 
really  believe  in  Mormonism  with  all  its  absurdities  and  con- 
tradictions. They  never  doubt  for  a  moment,  that  Joseph 
Smith  was  sent  direct  from  God,  and  that  Brigham  Young  was 
his  successor.  This  class  comprises  about  half  of  the  whole 
community,  and  they  are  the  really  dangerous  element.  Nt 


AND   CRIME*   OF    MOKMONI8M.  315 

miraculous  story  is  too  great  for  their  belief,  if  it  have  the 
»tamp  of  "authority,"  and  no  oppression  or  priestly  tyranny 
seems  to  shake  their  faith  for  a  moment ;  and,  paradoxical  as  it 
may  seem,  in  this  class  are  found  all  the  virtues  of  the  Mormon 
community.  They  are  industrious,  frugal  (often  from  neces- 
sity), and  reasonably  temperate.  Their  honesty,  I  think,  has 
been  overrated,  and  Brigham  and  other  leaders  have  often  said 
the  same.  Yet,  one  may  travel  among  them  for  weeks,  as  1 
have  done,  and  meet  with  nothing  but  kindness  and  hospitality. 

But  in  their  very  virtues  lies  the  greatest  danger.  Their 
constancy  to  their  leaders  is  wonderful,  and  their  gullibility 
and  capacity  to  swallow  the  marvelous  beyond  belief;  so  they 
constitute  a  mass  of  dangerous  power  in  the  hands  of  corrupt 
and  treasonable  men.  These  are  the  men  we  ought  to  reach 
and  try  to  save,  and  yet  they  are  the  very  ones  who  are  hardest 
to  influence.  They  will  not  read  our  books  or  papers  (very 
many  of  them  cannot),  nor  listen  for  a  moment  to  our  argu- 
ments. They  denounce  everything  which  is  not  approved  by 
the  bishop,  and  pronounce  the  plainest  facts  of  history  false,  if 
they  clash  with  the  statements  of  "authority."  Conversing 
once  with  one  such,  I  read  the  following  passage  from  the 
"Book  of  Mormon:"  "We  found  upon  the  land  of  promise 
(Central  America),  that  there  were  beasts  in  the  forest  of  every 
kind,  both  the  cow  and  the  ox,  and  the  ass  and  the  horse,  and 
all  manner  of  wild  animals,  which  were  for  the  use  of  men." 

"Now,"  said  I,  "your  Prophet  says  the  Nephites  landed  in 
America  six  hundred  years  before  Christ,  and  the  last  of  them 
perished  about  A.  D.  400,  and  all  this  time  they  had  used  the 
horse  and  the  ass.  Now,  any  history  of  America  will  show 
that  the  horse  was  completely  unknown  to  the  Indians  till 
brought  here  by  the  Spaniards." 

"  O,  pshaw  ! "  was  the  reply,  "  I  don't  believe  a  word  of  it ; 
it's  a  d — d  lie,  got  up  by  some  enemy  of  the  truth." 

"  But  could  the  Nephites  have  had  these  animals,  and  no 
trace  of  them  be  found?" 

"I  don't  believe  any  man  knows  anything  about  it,"  said  he; 
44  you  examine  and  you  will  find  many  of  the  so-called  facto  of 


316  POLYGAMY;   OR,   THE   MYSTERIES 

history  are  not  facts.  You  may  read  every  history  written, 
and  pick  out  every  fact  against  that  book  (Mormon),  and  when 
you  look  into  it  you  will  find  them  all  false." 

This  was  the  mode  of  reasoning  adopted  by  a  man  of  extra 
intelligence  for  a  Mormon.  I  have  talked  with  dozens  of  this 
sort,  and  no  matter  how  clear  on  everything  else,  they  seem  to 
go  wild  in  their  logic  when  Mormonism  is  touched  upon.  "  Do 
you  actually  believe,"  I  asked  an  old  lady,  "that  the  earthly 
paradise  will  be  in  Jackson  county,  Missouri?"  "Oh,  yes," 
she  said,  "  for  the  Lord  pointed  out  the  exact  place  to  Joseph, 
and  said  that  Zion  should  never  be  moved,  and  all  the  people 
of  America  who  do  not  repent  will  be  destroyed  now  in  a  few 
years,  so  there  will  be  but  one  man  for  seven  women.  Those 
are  the  very  words,  and  everything  Joseph  and  Isaiah  (!)  said 
has  turned  out  just  exactly  as  they  said  it  would." 

Such  are  the  ideas  impressed  upon  the  minds  of  these  people. 
Numbers  of  them  testify  in  the  most  positive  manner  to  mirac- 
ulous cures  performed  upon  themselves  or  their  friends,  sim- 
ply by  the  "laying  on  of  hands"  by  an  elder  or  bishop.  They 
devoutly  believe  that  Stephen  A.  Douglas  failed  politically, 
because  he  urged  vigorous  action  against  the  Mormons,  and 
that  the  war  of  1861-65  was  a  punishment  for  persecution  of 
the  Saints.  At  Brigham's  command  they  would  have  fought 
the  world,  or  given  up  all  they  had  and  gone  to  another  coun- 
try. But  fortunately  man  is  mortal;  most  of  these  fanatics 
are  old ;  and  as  they  die,  younger  and  more  liberal  men  take 
their  places.  And  as  to  the  foreign-born  Saints,  it  is  an  im- 
portant question  how  they  feel  towards  our  government.  It 
must  be  remembered  that  most  of  them  are  of  the  lowest  and 
most  ignorant  class ;  that  they  came  direct  from  Europe  to 
Utah,  and  know  absolutely  nothing  of  the  States  and  their 
people;  that  they  merely  have  Mormonism  grafted  on  to 
Europeanism,  and  cannot  be  expected  to  become  nationalized 
like  their  countrymen  who  settle  in  the  East.  Whatever  dis- 
tinctively American  feeling  they  have  must,  then,  be  looked 
for  in  the  influences  there  and  the  teachings  of  the  Church. 
Those  influences  and  teachings  are  all  anti-American.  Mor- 


AND   CRIMES   OF    MORMONISM.  317 

monism  consists  of  a  union  of  Church  and  State,  and  a  body 
of  doctrines  utterly  hostile  to  republicanism. 

Submission  to  a  priesthood  in  everything,  the  degradation  of 
woman,  the  use  of  a  marked  ballot,  the  denial  of  ordinary  po- 
litical privileges  and  the  claim  that  there  should  be  no  political 
parties :  these  must  make  the  mass  of  the  people  thoroughly 
non-American  in  spite  of  naturalization  and  oaths  of  allegiance. 
All  the  ordinary  rights  of  woman  under  American  law  are  de- 
nied as  far  as  the  Territorial  government  can  do  it,  and  the  lit- 
tle that  is  now  conceded  is  merely  the  result  of  ten  years' 
pounding  by  the  Gentile  minority.  In  brief,  what  we  call 
Americanism  is  anti-Mormon.  It  exists  neither  in  their  birth, 
training  nor  religion.  To  them  the  church  is  the  government, 
and  Utah  is  America.  They  know  no  other,  and  consider  it 
the  height  of  presumption  for  the  United  States  authorities  to 
claim  the  right  to  rule  over  them.  True,  they  claim  to  be  true 
Americans,  just  as  the  Abyssinians  claim  to  be  true  Christians, 
while  it  is  evident  neither  understand  their  own  words. 

But  the  Mormons  have  been  settled  in  Utah  fifty-seven 
years ;  children  born  there  have  grown  and  married,  and  now 
have  children  nearing  maturity,  and  these  I  find  it  hard  to  clas- 
sify. They  are  certainly  not  Europeans,  still  less  Americans ; 
they  are  simply  Utah  Territorians.  They  call  themselves  Mor- 
mons, but  I  never  found  one  an  earnest  believer  in  the  doctrines. 
They  are  one  and  all  infidels :  about  equally  divided,  as  far  as 
%they  think  at  all,  into  materialists  and  spiritualists.  They  are 
even  of  a  distinct  physical  type;  Mormon  institutions  and 
habits  of  life  have  developed  a  new  variety  of  the  human  race. 
Their  language  is  English,  their  build  ultra-American — that  is, 
long  and  thin ;  they  are  generally  light-haired  and  blue-eyed, 
with  the  habits  of  frontiersmen.  As  to  any  crime  of  recent 
occurrence  they  are  as  ready  as  anybody  to  assist  the  officials ; 
as  to  any  inquiry  into  the  old-time  church  murders  they  are  one 
with  the  elders — the  whole  community  presents  a  united  opposi- 
tion to  the  enforcement  of  law.  John  D.  Lee  found  as  warm 
friends  among  them  as  among  their  parents ;  and  in  his  lonely 
journeys  over  the  mountains,  between  his  retreat  and  the 


318  POLYGAMY. 

Sevier  settlements,  he  often  had  to  thank  some  "  hickory " 
Mormon  for  warning  and  guidance.  Their  property  interests 
are  one  with  the  old  folks ;  they  have  been  reared  under  an  ec- 
clesiastical despotism ;  their  parental  traditions  are  of  Old 
World  monarchies  and  established  churches,  and  they  have  no 
experience  of  a  real  American  society — how  should  they  have 
democratic  ideas? 

There  are  no  free  schools  in  Utah,  and  no  organized  systems 
of  instruction  ;  nevertheless  the  social  and  intellectual  condition 
of  the  people  is  far  superior  to  what  it  was  twenty  or  even  five 
years  ago.  There  is  still  a  prejudice  against  the  learned  profes- 
sions, particularly  medicine;  and  a  general  feeling  that  the 
Saints  are  above  the  necessity  of  such  knowledge — which  idea  was 
summed  up  by  Brigham  Young  in  these  words:  "Study  twenty 
years  in  the  world's  knowledge,  and  God  Almighty  will  give 
the  poorest  Saint  more  knowledge  in  five  minutes  than  you  get 
in  all  that  time."  In  this  social  view,  it  were  an  endless  task 
to  mention  all  the  thousand  forms  of  popular  error,  the  belief 
in  witchcraft,  dreams,  evestraj  ghostly  fancies  and  "  faith-doc- 
toring "  which  prevail  among  them  ;  but  it  is  worthy  of  remark 
that  there  is  certainly  no  other  place  in  America  where  retro- 
grade ideas,  as  they  might  be  called,  prevail  so  extensively  as  in 
Utah.  Nine-tenths  of  the  Saints  seem  to  have  taken  up  one 
common  wail  about  everything  outside  of  Utah.  Whether  it  is 
to  persuade  themselves  that  they  are  really  better  than  other 
men,  or  to  console  themselves  at  the  thought  of  others'  misery, 
it  seems  to  be  their  meat  and  drink  to  blacken  the  character  of 
the  rest  of  mankind.  They  take  up  the  wailing  jeremiad  that 
there  is  so  much  more  crime  in  the  country  than  formerly;  that 
people  generally  are  so  much  more  dishonest;  that  there  are  so 
few  virtuous  women;  that  the  country  is  rapidly  going  to  decay; 
that  religion  has  lost  its  power;  that  all  political  action  is 
wrong,  slavery  ought  never  to  have  been  abolished,  and  nothing 
should  have  been  done  as  it  has  been  for  the  last  twenty-five 
years.  To  quote  history  or  statistics  to  the  contrary  would  be 
no  proof  at  all  to  them ;  they  regard  all  such  as  "  Gentile  lies." 
And  thus,  in  the  supreme  belief  that  they  alone  are  "  in  the  ark 


(319) 


320  POLYGAMY;    OR,   THE    MYSTERIES 

of  safety,"  they  confidently  wait  for  the  "  great  tribulation  " 
which  is  now  about  due ;  while  thousands  of  them  still  expect 
to  live  to  see  the  time  when  the  American  nation  shall  be  a 
thing  of  the  past,  and  Macaulay's  New  Zealander  shall  "sit  on 
London  Bridge  and  muse  on  the  decline  and  fall  of  the  British 
Empire." 

And  yet  amid  all  these  discouraging  surroundings  the  flower 
of  genius  has  bloomed,  and  several  young  Territorians  have  de- 
veloped decided  ability.  Among  them  are:  one  musician  of 
decided  powers,  two  lawyers  of  good  standing,  an  artist  of  taste, 
actors  of  rising  fame,  at  least  one  poetic  genius,  and  a  few  ac- 
complished scholars.  Miss  Sarah  Carmichael,  the  "  Salt  Lake 
poetess,"  was  not  a  native  Territorian,  but  reared  from  infancy 
among  the  Mormons,  and  in  circumstances  one  would  have 
thought  fatal  to  poetic  genius.  Her  father  was  the  most  fanatic 
of  Mormons,  a  day  laborer  and  in  very  humble  circumstances ; 
her  every  movement  for  something  better  was  thwarted,  her 
every  aspiration  systematically  crushed.  But  she  was  born  a 
poetess,  and  oppression  could  not  make  her  dumb,  though  it  did 
make  her  miserable.  Like  all  true  poets,  her  heart  beat  warmly 
for  liberty.  Alone  among  the  Mormons  she  sympathized  with 
the  war  for  the  Union,  and  rejoiced  greatly  at  the  destruction  of 
slavery.  Her  monody  on  the  death  of  Lincoln,  written  in  a 
venomously  disloyal  community,  and  within  a  few  hours  after 
hearing  of 'the  tragedy,  is  a  poem  of  singular  and  mournful 
beauty.  The  following  is  a  fair  specimen  of  her  minor  pieces  - 

"THOUGHTS  AT  SUNSET. 

"  There's  glory  in  the  heavens, 

There's  music  in  the  air, 
There's  grandeur  in  the  ocean, 

There's  beauty  everywhere  ; 
Here's  beauty  in  the  sunshine, 

In  the  shade  upon  the  ground, 
In  the  breath  of  fragrant  flowers, 

There's  beauty  all  around. 

"  There's  beauty  in  the  lightning, 
In  its  flash  across  the  sky, 


AND   CRIMES   OP   MOBMONISM.  321 

In  the  majesty  of  thunder 
When  the  storm-king  passeth  by; 

There's  beauty  in  the  twilight  hour 
In  the  rosy-tinted  West ; 

There's  glory  in  the  golden  sun 
When  sinking  to  his  rest. 

"  There's  beauty  in  the  face  divine 

Of  every  one  we  love ; 
And  peaceful  is  the  dying  hour 
When  all  is  light  above." 

Among  her  longer  pieces  the  "  Legend  of  Paul  Casawayne ? 
shows  great  creative  genius,  and  has  a  strangely  musical  versifi- 
cation ;  and  the  "  Origin  of  Gold  "  is  a  remarkably  daring  con- 
ception. In  the  darkest  hour  of  the  civil  war  Miss  Carmichael 
threw  off  all  allegiance  to  Mormonism  and  came  out  as  a  con- 
tributor to  the  Vidette — the  loyal  paper  of  the  Territory,  estab- 
lished by  General  P.  E.  Conner.  Thereupon  Miss  Eliza  R. 
Snow,  "  proxy  "  wife  of  Brigham  and  Mormon  poetess,  filled 
two  columns  of  the  Deseret  News  with  a  poetic  exhortation 
headed,  "  Come  back,  come  back,  thou  wandering  star !  "  To 
this  Miss  Carmichael  responded  with  a  shorter,  somewhat  sar- 
castic poem  which  is  startling  even  to  the  most  liberal  Gentile 
by  its  advanced  thought  as  to  the  character  of  the  soul  and  at- 
tributes of  the  Almighty.  Then  Mormondom  grew  too  hot  for 
her,  and  she  was  taken  out  of  Utah  with  a  military  escort.  She 
married  Dr.  W.  N.  Williamson,  of  Ohio. 

Miss  Eliza  R.  Snow's  poems  belong  to  that  middling  class 
which  Horace  says,  "  Gods  and  men  despise."  They  never  rise 
high,  and  rarely  sink  low  enough  to  be  ridiculous  :  their  style  is 
a  dead  level  of  mediocrity.  Elder  C.  W.  Penrose  has  written  a 
few  stirring  pieces ;  but  as  a  rule  all  the  good  Mormon  poetry 
consists  of  tolerably  clever  parodies.  Thus,  "  The  rose  that  all 
are  praising  is  not  the  rose  for  me  "  becomes  "A  Church  with- 
out a  prophet  is  not  the  Church  for  me,"  etc.,  and  the  "  King  of 
the  Cannibal  Islands "  furnishes  a  frame  on  which  to  run  the 
song,  "  Come  forward  and  pay  up  your  tithing."  Hannah  Corn- 
aby,  an  English  Saintess,  who  glories  in  it,  polygamy  and  all 
21 


322  POLYGAMY. 


has  also  gushed  extensively  on  all  sorts  of  Mormon  topics. 
She  says  in  her  autobiography  that  her  "  highest  ambition  is  to 
be  a  faithful  Latter-day  Saint,  and  to  tell  the  peace  and  joy 
which  a  knowledge  of  the  gospel  has  brought  to  one  of  its 
humble  followers."  And  here  is  a  fair  specimen  from  her 
"sacred  poetry/'  written  when  Judge  McKean  had  Brigham 
under  arrest : 

"  Low  at  Thy  feet,  oh,  Lord  of  Hosts,  we  bow, 
And  ask  Thee  to  regard  our  Prophet  now  ; 
Save  him,  our  Father,  from  those  wicked  men, 
As  Thou  didst  Daniel  in  the  lion's  den. 

"  Hush  Thou  the  tumult  in  Thy  people's  breast, 
For  now  they  feel  how  sorely  they're  oppressed ; 
He  whom  we  love,  our  dearest  earthly  friend, 
Is  made  a  pris'ner  by  a  human  fiend. 

"The  man  renowned  for  deeds  of  noble  worth, 
Than  whom  no  purer  dwells  on  Thy  broad  earth 
Accused  of  crimes  at  which  the  soul  revolts, 
Before  a  '  ring '  of  lying,  sensual  dolts !  " 

"  Sensuality  "  is  always  spoken  of  by  Mormon  women  as  the 
most  horrible  thing  in  the  world,  and  it  seems  a  pity  that  such 
gentle  natures  should  be  shocked  by  the  charges  made  against 
their  brethren.  Mrs.  Cornaby's  "  True  Story  "  is  thoroughly 
Mormon  and  spicy  enough  to  interest  a  Gentile : 

"An  Elder  was  preaching  the  Gospel  in  Wales 

Without  either  purse  or  scrip, 
And  it  happened  at  times  that  he  had  to  feel 
Hunger's  keen,  unwelcome  grip. 

*'One  day — 'twas  past  noon — he  was  trav'ling  along, 

Quite  uncertain  where  to  dine ; 
He  was  weary  and  faint,  but  his  faith  was  strong, 
Nor  did  he  feel  to  repine. 

**  His  heart  raised  in  prayer,  still  onward  he  went, 

Till  a  house  appeared  to  view, 
With  signs  of  much  comfort  and  plenty  around. 
And  pmithv  attached  thereto. 


THE  OLD  WIFE  GETS  THE  JEWELRY  INTENDED  FOR  THE  YOUNG  ONE. 

(323) 


324  POLYGAMY;   OR,   THE    MYSTERIES 

"  Now,  a  blacksmith's  shop  is  a  place  of  resort, 

And  hither  he  bent  his  way ; 
Very  shortly  a  listening  group  had  met 
To  hear  what  he  had  to  say. 

u  With  truth's  own  eloquence,  the  Elder  then  spoke, 

And  the  simple  story  told, 

That  God,  in  these  great  Latter-days,  had  restored 
The  Gospel  as  'twas  of  old. 

"He  was  preaching  baptism,  repentance  for  sin, 

When  in  came  the  blacksmith's  wife, 
Full  of  anger  toward  this  servant  of  God, 
Like  some  spirit  bent  on  strife. 

0  Very  wisely  our  Elder  kept  back  the  ire 

'Twas  impossible  not  to  feel, 
'Till  the  blacksmith's  wife  had  expended  her  words 

As  well  as  anger  and  zeal. 

* '  Now,  Madam,'  the  Elder  said,  '  I  would  inquire 

To  what  sect  you  may  belong  ? ' 
'  I  am  a  Baptist,  sir,  and  firmly  believe 
All  other  religions  wrong.' 

•"You  do  not  believe  in  the  Testament,  then?' 

'  Why,  yes,  most  truly  I  do.' 
'  It  seems  rather  strange,  but  allow  me  to  ask 
If  you  keep  its  precepts  too? 

***  You  called  me  your  enemy  only  just  now, 

I'm  very  hungry,  indeed, 
Therefore,  if  thine  enemy  hunger,  feed  him, 
Is  the  way  my  Bible  reads." 

MA  deafening  shout  broke  from  the  gathered  throng, 

And  loudly  they  cheer  and  clap ; 
*  There,  now,  woman,'  the  blacksmith  laughingly  said. 
'  You're  surely  caught  in  a  trap.' 

"  My  story  is  told,  for  the  sequel  soon  proved 

That  Philip  Sykes  was  winner. 
Without  even  a  murmur,  she  sat  him  down 
To  a  substantial  dinner." 

This  is  quite  too  utterly  too-too ;  but  it  is  deliciously  sugges- 
tive of  the  Mormon  idea  of  wit.     Mrs.  Cornaby's  biography  is 


AND   CRIMES   OF   MORMONISM.  325 

a  record  of  wonder  arid  miracle.  She  says  that  she  and  her 
husband,  in  England,  were  converted  to  Mormonism  by  reading 
a  book  written  in  opposition  to  it.  She  affirms  that  no  principle 
of  the  faith  was  received  by  them  with  so  much  joy  as  the 
"  heaven-bom  revelation  "  of  polygamy.  Her  husband  does 
not  appear  to  have  felt  called  upon  to  put  the  doctrine  in  prac- 
tice, however.  If  he  had,  her  buoyant  muse  might  have  sung 
in  jeremiads. 

There  is  a  certain  rude  humor  among  the  Mormons  which 
occasionally  develops  into  real  wit  in  the  younger  ones ;  and  a 
young  Mormon  has  one  great  advantage  over  a  young  American : 
he  has  absolutely  no  reverence  for  anybody.  He  can  make  game 
of  Prophet  or  President,  governor  or  elder ;  and  polygamy  cer- 
tainly presents  more  salient  points  for  wit  and  ridicule  to  fasten 
on  than  any  other  institution  in  America.  I  had  an  intimate 
friend  among  the  "hickory"  Mormons  whose  details  of  life  in 
the  manifold  families  often  convulsed  me,  especially  his  spirited 
narration  of  a  scene  in  the  home  of  a  certain  Salt  Lake  mer- 
chant whose  young  wife  was  a  plump  and  pretty,  piquant  and 
black-eyed  English  girl,  while  his  older  one  was  so  hopelessly 
homely  that  really  her.  face  must  have  ached.  But  my  friend 
insisted  that  she  was  not  jealous,  and  loved  the  old  boy  with 
singleness  of  heart.  On  a  trip  for  new  goods  he  selected  some 
jewelry  for  his  fair  young  "  cone,"  and  sent  it  in  advance ;  but 
by  some  blunder  in  directing,  the  old  lady  captured  it,  and  on 
his  arrival  literally  smothered  him  with  glad  caresses.  Her 
transports,  her  thanks,  her  kisses,  and  above  all  his  horror  and 
the  favorite's  grief,  as  portrayed  by  my  witty  friend,  were  irre- 
sistibly funny.  There  is  so  much  of  this  sort  of  thing  that  I 
have  often  wondered  some  American  humorist  did  not  locate  at 
Salt  Lake  and  "do"  the  whole  community.  There  is  an  inex- 
haustible mine  of  humor,  and  un worked  as  yet. 

There  is  something  ludicrous  in  the  mere  suggestion  of 
woman  suffrage  in  a  system  which  does  not  recognize  even  the 
moral  development  of  woman  apart  from  her  husband;  in  the 
idea  of  exaltation  in  eternity  dependent  on  the  production  of 
children  on  earth ;  in  the  claim  of  liberty  and  fraternity  under 


326  POLYGAMY. 


a  system  in  which  the  priesthood  claim  a  divine  right  to 
u  dictate  to  this  people  in  everything,  even  to  the  ribbons  the 
women  shall  wear  and  the  setting  up  of  the  heel  of  a  stocking," 
and  above  all  in  communism  of  goods  for  Christ's  sake,  and 
tithing  labor  for  the  salvation  of  the  soul.  Concerning  the 
latter,  an  old  apostate  of  my  acquaintance  relates  this  experi- 
ence :  "  When  I  first  came  out  I  was  mighty  regular  in  attend- 
ance, resolved  to  obey  counsel  and  give  all  that  was  asked. 
Well,  first  year  I  had  ten  mighty  fine  hogs;  so  I  sent  one 
to  the  Tithing  yard,  and  butchered  the  rest.  But  here  come  Brig- 
ham's  clerk  and  tithed  the  meat  I  cut  up ;  then  the  bishop  of  this 
ward  insisted  on  a  '  donation/  and  right  away  some  destitute  im- 
migrants came  in,  and  nobody  had  any  meat  to  spare  but  me, 
and  I  had  to  ante.  Last  of  all  the  Women's  Relief  Association 
insisted  on  something,  and  when  I  got  through  with  them  I 
found  I  had  just  about  the  meat  o'  one  hog  left!  Well,  I  felt 
sort  o'  cut  up  over  it,  and  went  to  Brigham  to  complain.  He 
heard  me  and  said,  *  O,  well,  Brother  Vogel,  it  will  happen  now 
and  then ;  but  you  can  give  up  that  much  for  the  Lord,  can't 
you  ? '  Well,  I  went  home  and  did  not  say  much  then,  but  I 
thought  the  '  Lord  '  was  d — n  fond  o'  my  pork  !  " 

Utah  will  eventually  cease  to  be  exclusively  Mormon,  just  as 
Pennsylvania  has  ceased  to  be  exclusively  Quaker;  but  it  will 
be  occupied  by  a  peculiar  people  for  a  long,  long  time  to  come. 
The  worst  evil,  probably,  in  the  coming  generation  will  be  the 
result  of  that  tenet  of  Mormonism  that,  where  the  interests  of 
the  church  were  concerned,  it  was  perfectly  right  to  deceive  the 
Gentile.  Take  naturalization  for  instance.  Many  Mormons 
came  up  at  the  terms  of  the  United  States  District  Court  in 
1870  and  '71,  and  solemnly  swore  that  they  were  not  polyg- 
amists,  and  did  not  intend  to  become  such,  forswearing  a  prime 
principle  of  their  faith,  and  undoubtedly  committing  moral 
perjury  in  order  to  become  voters.  They  openly  justify  this, 
and  here  is  their  mode  of  reasoning :  "  If  a  man  seeks  my  life, 
I  am  right  to  use  any  means  otherwise  unlawful  to  defend  it. 
The  same  is  true  of  attacks  upon  my  liberty  or  personal  rights ; 
that  which  would  otherwise  be  wrong  becomes  right  in  self- 


BBIGHAM  GETS  THE  PORK. 


(327) 


328  POLYGAMY;    OR,   THE   MYSTERIES 

defence.  The  Federal  judges  have  set  up  an  unjust  rule  to  take 
away  my  rights  as  a  citizen,  and  I  am  justified  in  any  means  to 
defeat  their  aim.  The  judge  has  no  right  to  ask  such  a  ques- 
tion of  the  Saints."  Thirty  years7  prevalence  of  such  principles 
must  weaken  the  moral  perceptions  and  soon  affect  others  who 
come  to  live  among  them.  Some  Jews  and  Gentiles,  too,  often 
think  it  necessary  to  descend  to  the  same  low  level  and  fight 
with  the  same  weapons;  for,  if  they  do  not,  they  are  at  a 
disadvantage. 

Hence  society  in  general  becomes  demoralized.  The  material 
future  of  Utah  is  bright ;  of  her  immediate  moral  and  social 
future  I  have  serious  doubts.  She  seems  destined  to  universal 
infidelity.  Mormonism  dies  away ;  no  other  faith  takes  its 
place ;  the  young  Saints  as  soon  as  they  grow  up  divide  into 
two  bodies — Spiritualists  and  infidels — and  the  Territory  bids 
fair  to  become  the  common  hunting-ground  of  every  ism  sug- 
gested by  a  heterodox  and  fertile  fancy.  Let  what  may  happen, 
the  residence  of  the  Mormons  will  have  left  in  the  country  a 
general  uncertainty  of  ideas  and  a  laxity  of  moral  principle 
which  will  not  be  effaced  in  less  than  a  generation ;  perhaps  not 
even  then,  or  until  they  learn  by  dire  experience  that  the  way 
of  the  transgressor  is  hard.  Religious  lying  seems  to  have  been 
reduced  to  a  science,  and  religious  lying  is  the  worst  of  all 
lying.  Thus  it  stands  in  Utah  :  the  Jews  lie  for  gain,  the  Gen- 
tiles from  association,  and  the  Mormons  for  Christ's  sake. 


AND   CRIMES   OF    MORMONISM.  329 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

MORMON  GOVERNMENT. 

Absolutism — An  ancient  model — Three  governments  in  Utah — Church  offi 
cials — First  President — First  Presidency — "  The  worst  man  in  Utah  "- 
Quorum  of  Apostles — "  The  Twelve  " — A  dozen  men  with  fifty-two  wives — 
President  of  Seventies — Patriarch — "A  blessing  for  a  dollar" — Bishops — 
High  Council — Judge  and  jury — Ward  teachers — The  confessional — Evan- 
gelists— Secret  police  or  "  Danites  " — Civil  government  only  an  appendage 
— Excessive  power  of  the  Mormon  Courts — Perversions  of  law  and  justice — 
Organic  Act  defective — Federal  Judges — Their  weakness  and  disgrace — 
Verdicts  dictated  from  the  pulpit — Probate  Judges  really  appointed  by 
Brigham  Young — Voting  system — "Protecting  the  ballot" — The  Hooper- 
McGroarty  race — Plurality  of  offices  as  well  as  wives — Tyranny  of  the 
Church — The  Mormon  vs.  the  American  idea — The  evils  of  which  Gentiles 
complain. 

IN  government  as  in  doctrine  and  practice,  the  Mormons 
have  adopted  the  most  ancient  model.  But  it  was  not  quite 
possible  even  for  them  to  entirely  ignore  the  popular  element, 
hence  they  have  pieced  out  their  theocracy  with  a  shred  of  uni- 
versal suffrage,  proving  themselves  eclectic  in  politics  as  well 
as  theology.  There  are  in  Utah  three  distinct  governments: 

I.  The  recognized   and   openly  acknowledged   ecclesiastical 
government  of  the  Mormon  Church. 

II.  The  secret  and  irresponsible  government  operated  by  a 
few  of  the  leading  men. 

III.  The  Territorial  government,  which  was  for  years  but 
the  mere  convenient  machine  of  the  church,  and  has  but  lately 
stood  forth  in  anything  like  its  intended  character. 


330  POLYGAMY. 

For  the  success  of  such  an  institution  as  Mormonism,  it  was 
absolutely  necessary  there  should  be  a  recognized  priesthood  3 
through  which  channel  alone,  all  commands  from  heaven  should 
come.  If  any  man  who  "felt  the  moving  of  the  Spirit"  was 
at  liberty  to  prophesy,  prophets  would  soon  cease  to  have  any 
honor.  It  was  necessary,  too,  that  this  priesthood  should  bear 
complete  rule,  and  to  this  end  an  ignorant  laity  was  necessary. 
These  conditions  have  all  been  filled,  and  the  Mormon  Church 
stands. forth  complete  as  a  theocratic  absolutism.  I  present  \n 
the  order  of  their  rank,  the  various  officers  of  the  church,  and 

the  duties  connected  with  them. 

i 

THE   FIRST   PRESIDENT. 

This  officer  stands  at  the  head  of  all  the  affairs  of  the  church, 
temporal  and  spiritual,  financial  and  priestly ;  he  alone  has  the 
power  of  "  sealing,"  though  in  some  cases  he  may  delegate  it, 
and  he  only  is  acknowledged  revelator.  This  office,  first  filled 
by  Joseph  Smith,  was  held  for  thirty  years  by  Brigham  Young, 
who  was  "  Prophet,  Priest,  Seer,  Revelator  in  all  the  world, 
First  President  and  Trustee-in -trust  of  the  Church  of  Jesus 
Christ  of  Latter-day  Saints,"  and  ex-qfficio  the  repository  of 
any  other  needed  office  or  power.  John  Taylor  is  the  present 
incumbent. 

To  consider  him  in  all  these  roles  would  exceed  my  space ; 
his  various  powers  appear  more  fully  in  the  course  of  this  his- 
tory. Suffice  it  to  say,  that  as  Prophet,  he  holds  the  "  keys  of 
the  kingdom,"  and  without  his  permission  none  can  enter  the 
church  or  be  saved;  as  Revelator,  he  unfolds  to  the  people  the 
will  of  God  concerning  them ;  as  Seer,  he  is  warned  to  avoid 
any  danger  which  may  be  in  the  future  for  him  or  his  people, 
and,  as  Priest,  he  "  seals "  men  and  women  for  eternity.  In 
temporal  matters  he  is  equally  absolute.  As  President,  he 


CLA.DET  YOUNG  AT  WEST  POINT. 


332  POLYGAMY;    OB,  THE  MYSTERIES 

orders  all  the  concerns  of  the  church,  appoints  new  bishops  and 
elders,  and  determines  the  political  bearings  of  the  community ; 
as  Trustee-in-trust,  all  the  title  to  the  church  property  is  in  his 
name,  he  buys,  sells,  and  conveys  it,  and,  in  Brigham's  reign, 
with  no  fixed  system  of  rendering  account,  and  as  Treasurer  of 
the  Perpetual  Emigrating  Fund,  his  draft  alone  can  be  hon- 
ored where  the  funds  are  on  deposit.  He  claims  and  is  ac- 
knowledged by  his  followers,  to  be  the  Supreme  Pontiff  of  the 
world  in  all  spiritual  matters,  and  entitled  to  the  obedience  of 
all  Mormons.  They  also  claimed  for  Brigham  that  all  the 
wise  men  had  recognized  his  position  by  calling  to  pay  their 
respects  as  they  passed  through  the  city,  and  that  the  govern- 
ment had  officially  recognized  his  presidency  by  appointing  his 
polygamous  son  to  West  Point.  They  do  not  fail  to  add  that 
Cadet  Young  took  the  lead  there  in  everything,  and  that  the 
Gentile  ladies  literally  bowed  down  and  worshipped  him  in  a 
social  way.  And  it  must  be  confessed  that  a  few  of  our  fair 
countrywomen  did  succeed  in  making  fools  of  themselves  that 
way. 

True,  there  are  various  parties  among  the  Mormons,  who 
claim  that  the  President  is  entitled  to  their  obedience  only 
within  certain  limits;  but  they  are  generally  held -as  heretics, 
"governed  by  an  apostate  spirit,"  and  all  "good  Mormons" 
claim  that  they  are  bound  by  the  orders  of  the  Prophet,  even 
to  matters  of  life  and  death.  The  doctrine  was  still  more 
authoritatively  declared  by  the  First  President,  Brigham 
Young,  and  his  Councillor,  Daniel  H.  Wells,  who  said :  "  It 
is  apostasy  to  differ  from  the  Priesthood — though  ever  so  hon- 
estly— a  man  may  honestly  differ,  and  go  to  hell  for  it."  If 
there  is  any  limit  to  his  power,  it  is  not  apparent  to  the  Gen- 
tile mind. 


AND   CRIMES  OF   MORMONISM.  333 

THE    FIRST   PRESIDENCY. 

This  consists  of  the  First  President  and  his  First  and  Sec- 
ond Councilors,  in  1868-75,  George  A.  Smith  and  Daniel  H. 
Wells.  The  first  place  was  formerly  filled  by  Heber  C.  Kim- 
ball,  who  died  a  short  time  before  I  entered  the  Territory,  and 
at  the  ensuing  Conference,  Smith  was  chosen  to  the  place. 
These  last  also  have  the  title  of  President,  they  are  the  Lieu- 
tenants and  Prime  Ministers  of  the  President  to  do  all  his  com- 
mands, and  are  authorized  to  act  in  various  capacities  in  his 
absence.  In  addition  George  A.  Smith  was  Church  Historian, 
and  Daniel  H.  Wells,  Mayor,  Justice  of  the  Peace  and  Lieu- 
tenant-General of  the  Nauvoo  Legion.  He  seems  to  bear  about 
him  less  of  the  ecclesiastical  character  than  his  colleague,  and  is 
generally  denominated  'Squire  Wells;  but  he  is  probably  the 
worst  man  in  the  Hierarchy,  being  both  a  half-crazy  fanatic 
and  a  blood-thirsty  bigot.  The  organization  has  been  changed 
since  the  death  of  Smith  and  Brigham. 

QUORUM   OF   APOSTLES. 

The  body  third  in  importance  in  the  church  is  the  College 
or  Quorum  of  the  Twelve  Apostles.  They  come  much  nearer 
to  the  people  than  the  First  Presidency,  as  the  whole  Mormon 
territory  is  nominally  divided  between  them,  and  it  is  their 
duty  to  inspect  their  various  districts  and  see  "  that  each  stake 
is  set  in  order/'  Individual  Apostles  are  often  put  in  charge 
of  foreign  missions,  sent  away  to  edit  newspapers  or  magazines, 
or  to  preside  over  some  newly  selected  "  stake "  of  the  extend- 
ing settlements,  in  either  of  which  cases,  another  Apostle  is 
chosen  in  place  of  the  absent.  Thus  there  are  sometimes  as 
many  as  fifteen  acting  Apostles,  but  only  the  Twelve  are 
entitled  to  seats  in  the  Quorum  at  one  time. 


834 


POLYGAMY. 


I  present  the  list  as  it  stood  on  ray  arrival  in  Utah,  and  as  an 
Apostle's  dignity,  like  that  of  most  other  officers,  depends 
largely  upon  the  number  of  his  wives,  I  give  their  number 
also  as  it  then  was : 

ORSON  HYDE, 
ORSON  PRATT. 
JOHN  TAYLOR, 
WILFORD  WOODRUFF, 
JOSEPH  F.  SMITH, 
AM  ASA  LYMAN, 
EZRA  BENSON, 
CHARLES  RICH, 
LORENZO  SNOW, 
ERASTUS  SNOW, 
FRANKLIN  RICHARDS, 
GEORGE  Q.  CANNON, 

Ezra  Benson  died  in  1869,  Orson  Pratt  in  1881;  John 
Taylor  has  been  promoted,  and  Amasa  Lyman  has  apostatized. 
With  the  exception  of  John  Taylor  the  Apostles  are  reported  to 
be  poor  men  ;  Orson  Pratt  particularly  was  in  very  moderate  cir- 
cumstances, and  Orson  Hyde  has  the  reputation  of  being  uan 
inveterate  beggar,"  in  an  ecclesiastical  wayy  of  course.  The 
present  quorum  will  be  given  at  the  close  of  this  work. 

PRESIDENT  OF  SEVENTIES. 

This  office  appears  to  rank  next  to  that  of  an  Apostle,  and 
arises  as  follows :  The  great  working  body  of  male  Mormons  is 
divided  into  seventy  Quorums,  each  having  nominally  seventy 
members,  though,  in  reality,  they  range  everywhere  from  ten  to 
seventy.  Each  has  a  President  and  these,  collectively  known 
as  the  Seventy,  constitute  a  grand  missionary  board,  which  has 


First  Apostle, 

Five  Wives. 

Second      " 

Four 

u 

Third        « 

Seven 

(i 

Fourth       " 

Three 

« 

Fifth          " 

Three 

tt 

Sixth         « 

Five 

" 

Seventh      " 

Four 

« 

Eighth      " 

Seven 

tt 

Ninth       " 

Four 

« 

Tenth        « 

Three 

u 

Eleventh    " 

Four 

t( 

Twelfth      " 

Three 

(f 

AN  APOSTLE'S  YOUNG  WIFE  HEARING  HER  HUSBAND  is  TAKING  ANOTHER. 

(836) 


336  POLYGAMY. 

the  general  control  of  all  matters  connected  with  propagating 
the  faith.  These  seventy  Presidents  have  also  a  President, 
filling  the  office  under  consideration.  These  offices  have  no 
special  rank  in  the  Church,  as  an  Apostle  or  leading  elder  may 
be  but  a  lay  member  in  this  order. 

PATRIARCH. 

I  place  this  office  fifth  in  rank  because,  though  of  great  sanc- 
tity and  honor,  it  is  entirely  spiritual,  conferring  no  power. 
His  business  is  merely  to  grant  "  blessings,"  written  out  and 
signed  by  him.  The  usual  fee  therefor  is  one  dollar,  and  the 
"  blessings,"  as  far  as  I  have  read  any  of  them,  consist  of  vague 
and  general  promises  that  the  recipient  will  "be  blessed  if 
faithful."  The  first  Patriarch  in  the  Church  was  "Old  Father 
Smith,"  or  Joseph,  father  of  the  Prophet,  who  was  succeeded 
by  the  latter's  brother  Hyrum,  he  by  "uncle"  John  Smith, 
cousin  of  Joe,  and  he  in  turn  by  William  Smith,  son  of 
"  Hyrum  the  martyr."  To  hold  this  office  the  only  qualifica- 
tions which  seem  necessary,  are  that  one  should  be  an  "uncle" 
and  a  Smith,  neither  of  which  is  liable  to  fail  for  some  time, 

BISHOPS. 

AVe  now  consider  purely  temporal  officers,  a  set  of  men  who 
direct  municipal  regulations  and  are,  as  occasion  demands, 
either  officers  of  the  Church  or  Civil  Magistrates.  Of  these 
the  most  important  is  the  bishop.  Salt  Lake  City  is  divided 
into  twenty-one  wards,  each  of  which  has  a  bishop,  and  the 
entire  Territory  is  in  the  same  manner  conveniently  divided 
into  wards  with  a  bishop  over  each.  They  u  hear  and  deter- 
mine" all  complaints,  and  as  they  are,  under  the  peculiar  stat- 
utes of  Utah,  also  Probate  Judges  in  their  respective  counties, 
they  did  govern  Gentiles  in  that  character.  Thus,  as  spiritual 


338  POLYGAMY;    OR,    THE    MYSTERIES 

guide  in  all  matters  of  dispute  among  members  of  his  flock, 
and  civil  magistrate,  in  all  cases  where  Gentiles  are  concerned, 
the  bishop  was  equally  master  of  the  situation,  and  fully  ap- 
prized of  whatever  is  going  on.  Hence,  also,  his  character  as 
informer.  From  his  decision  as  Judge  the  Gentile  may  appeal 
to  the  United  States  District  Court,  and  thence  to  the  Supreme 
Court  at  Salt  Lake  City ;  from  his  episcopal  adjudications  the 
Mormon  can  appeal  to  the 

HIGH    COUNCIL. 

This  body  is  composed  of  fifteen  men,  chosen  from  the  High 
Priests.  Twelve  act  as  a  jury,  of  whom  a  majority  decide  the 
case,  and  the  other  three  pass  sentence,  or  fix  the  damages  and 
costs.  From  this  tribunal  there  is  an  appeal  to  the  First  Pres- 
idency. The  bishop  is  assisted  in  his  labors  by  the 

WARD  TEACHERS. 

Their  duty  is  to  visit  all  the  people  in  their  ward,  report  all 
suspected  persons,  catechize  every  one  as  to  personal  feeling, 
belief,  etc.,  to  report  all  irregularities,  heresies,  false  doctrine, 
and  schism,  and  generally  to  act  as  spies  and  informers.  On 
these  visitations  every  person  is  obliged  to  formally  subscribe  to 
all  the  doctrines  of  the  Church,  and  many  misdemeanors  and 
even  criminalities  are  hushed  up  in  the  ward  where  they  occur, 
without  the  slightest  knowledge  thereof  being  made  public. 
Hence  much  of  the  reputation  for  good  order  claimed  by  the 
Mormons.  In  one  instance,  which  came  to  my  knowledge,  an 
atrocious  rape,  committed  upon  a  girl  thirteen  Jyears  old,  was 
not  known  outside  of  the  ward  where  it  occurred  until  one  year 
after,  and  it  would  probably  not  then  have  been  made  known, 
had  not  the  father  of  the  girl  apostatized.  In  many  cases  boys 
of  fifteen  years  fill  the  place  of  Teacher,  and  are  required  to 


AND   CRIMES   OF   MORMON1SM.  339 

report  the  doings  of  their  fellows.  All  Mormons  are  solemnly 
sworn  to  keep  no  secrets  from  the  Teachers,  and  on  their 
monthly  visits  to  each  family  they  have  the  right  to  see  each 
person  alone,  and  hold  a  strict  and  nasty  "  confessional."  This, 
with  the  "  Danite  "  or  secret  police  system,  has  made  of  Mor- 
mon society  a  united  and  tyrannized  whole. 

THE   PRIESTHOOD. 

Thus  far  I  have  treated  rather  of  the  temporal  offices,  but 
all  officiating  Mormons  are  divided  into  two  bodies :  the 
Aaronic  and  the  Melchisedec  Priesthood.  The  latter  is  the 
superior,  and  in  many  respects  includes  the  former ;  it  is  both 
spiritual  and  temporal,  while  the  former  is  exclusively  tem- 
poral. A  High  Priest  of  the  Melchisedec  order  may  always 
officiate  in  place  of  an  Aaronic  Priest;  but  without  special  or- 
dainment,  the  latter  is  always  confined  to  temporal  affairs.  All 
the  higher  officials  belong  to  the  Melchisedec  order.  The  High 
Priest  ranks  next  to  the  Apostle,  and  after  him  some  order  of 
Elders,  below  whom  are  simple  Priests  and  ordinary  Elders. 
In  these  different  ranks  all  Mormons  are  Priests  of  some  sort, 
and  in  religious  cant  speak  of  themselves  as  "Kings  and 
Priests  of  the  Most  High  God." 

EVANGELISTS. 

These,  as  the  name  implies,  are  propagandists.  The  name 
seems  to  indicate  a  kind  of  work  rather  than  specific  rank 
or  office. 

Such  is  the  recognized  ecclesiastical  polity  of  the  church. 
But  lest  this  should  not  prove  effective  in  all  cases,  or  some 
should  grow  restive  under  such  restraint,  the  church  has  often 
used  an  order  of  secret  police,  popularly  known  as  "Danites." 
This  order  was  first  instituted  during  the  troubles  in  Missouri ; 


340  POLYGAMY;  OR,  THE  MYSTERIES 

it  was  remodeled  in  the  third  or  fourth  year  of  their  residence 
at  Xauvoo,  and  has  been  continued  since.  By  some  of  the 
Mormons  its  existence  is  denied,  by  others  defended  on  the 
score  of  self-protection.  That  thousands  of  honest  Mormons 
are  ignorant  of  and  do  not  believe  in  its  existence,  I  am  well 
aware ;  but  that  it  has  been,  and  to  some  extent  is  yet,  an  active 
working  force,  is  as  clearly  proved  as  any  fact  can  be.  From 
the  nature  of  the  case  but  little  can  be  known  of  its  secret 
organization  ;  its  work  plainly  appears  in  the  course  of  Mormon 
history. 

With  all  their  ecclesiastical  organization,  both  public  and 
private,  much  would  have  remained  beyond  their  power  to 
compass  without  a  civil  government;  and  the  manner  in  which 
they  have  used  it,  merely  to  further  church  policy,  is  a  singular 
comment  on  the  forbearance  of  a  republican  government. 

The  most  common  perversion  of  right,  and  yet  the  most  dif- 
ficult to  be  comprehended  by  residents  in  the  East,  was  the 
peculiar  manner  in  which  the  laws  and  local  courts  of  the  Ter- 
ritory were  made  an  engine  of  tyranny  in  the  hands  of  the 
ruling  oligarchy.  Like  every  other  Territory,  Utah  has  Fed- 
eral District  courts  and  local  Probate  courts ;  but,  unlike  any 
other  State  or  Territory  in  the  Union,  the  powers  and  jurisdic- 
tion of  the  latter  were  made  superior  to  those  of  the  former. 
Section  29,  page  31,  of  the  old  Territorial  Statutes,  gave  the 
Probate  courts  general  jurisdiction  in  all  matters,  civil  and 
criminal ;  while  Section  1  of  an  "Act  in  relation  to  Bills  of 
Divorce  and  Alimony,"  gave  them  exclusive  jurisdiction  over 
all  such  cases,  thus  making  them  superior  to  the  Federal  Dis- 
trict courts  in  such  matters,  and  equal  to  them  in  every  other 
respect. 

All  this  in  opposition  to  the  fact  that  the  organic  act  of  Utah 
gives  the  Legislature  no  power  to  build  up  such  local  courts, 


AND   CRIMES   OF   MORMONISM.  341 

and  in  other  Territories  this  matter  has  been  settled  by  appeal 
to  the  Supreme  Court,  and  by  its  decision  the  Probate  courts 
limited  to  probate  matters  and  a  very  limited  civil  jurisdiction. 
But  the  organic  act  provides  that  the  Probate  or  count"  courts 
shall  have  "  such  jurisdiction  as  shall  be  prescribed  by  law," 
and  from  this  loose  wording  the  Legislature  claimed  the  right 
to  give  them  jurisdiction  over  all  subjects  whatever.  This 
anomaly  in  the  judicial  system  was  not  without  good  cause. 
The  District  judges  are  United  States  officials,  and  are  supposed 
to  be  supporting  the  national  authority;  the  Probate  judges  are 
simply  the  bishops  or  elders  in  the  different  counties,  over  whom 
Brigham's  power  was  absolute. 

In  former  days  Brigham  divorced  whomsoever  he  saw  fit,  on 
his  own  motion,  and  on  payment  of  a  fee  of  ten  dollars.  He 
boasted  once  in  a  sermon  that  he  made  enough  this  way,  "  by 
their  d — d  foolishness,  to  keep  him  in  spending  money."  But 
afterwards  it  was  thought  best  to  give  some  attention  to  forms 
of  law;  and  then,  though  parties  must  first  be  divorced  by 
Brigham,  or  a  special  deputy  within  the  church  law,  yet,  after 
that,  they  must  have  a  legal  divorce  in  the  Probate  courts. 
Of  course  it  never  happened  that  Brigham's  wishes  were  disre- 
garded in  the  Probate.  But  this  was  their  own  affair;  it  is 
with  their  criminal  jurisdiction  that  Gentiles  had  to  do.  A  case 
which  occurred  in  a  southern  settlement,  in  1868,  illustrates  in 
so  forcible  a  manner  their  style  of  getting  rid  of  obnoxious 
citizens,  that  I  set  it  forth  entire. 

In  1860  a  lad  of  that  district,  of  more  than  ordinary  intelli- 
gence, left  for  California,  where  he  remained  for  eight  years, 
when  he  returned  home  with  a  considerable  amount  of  money, 
and  of  course  with  no  disposition  to  submit  to  the  exactions  of 
Mormonism.  His  parents  being  Mormons,  and  that  his  native 
place,  he  properly  belonged  to  the  class  known  as  "  hickory 


342  POLYGAMY. 

Mormons."  With  plenty  of  money,  and  being  well  dressed,  he 
went  to  all  their  dances  and  social  parties,  became  a  great 
/avorite  with  the  Mormon  girls,  did  not  hesitate  to  express  his 
opinion  about  the  bishops  and  elders,  and,  in  short,  his  example 
was,  as  the  bishop  said,  "  d — d  demoralizing." 

One  evening  he  accompanied  a  Mormon's  daughter  from  the 
village  to  her  home  in  the  country.  On  their  way  was  a  nar- 
row ravine,  about  halfway  between  two  houses  which  were  just 
a  furlong  apart.  They  remained  some  minutes  in  this  hollow, 
and  were  afterwards  seen  chatting  fbr  half  an  hour  at  her 
father's  gate.  One  week  afterwards  he  was  arrested  on  a 
charge  of  rape !  He  was  first  taken  before  a  magistrate,  where 
he  demanded  a  jury  of  twelve  men,  and  was  by  them  unani- 
mously acquitted.  Then  the  bishop  of  the  settlement,  also  a 
probate  judge,  issued  a  bench  warrant,  pronounced  all  the  pro- 
ceedings before  the  magistrate  void,  brought  the  young  man 
before  himself,  and,  by  the  aid  of  her  father,  absolutely  forced 
the  girl  to  testify  against  him,  and  upon  evidence  that  would 
have  been  laughed  out  of  court  in  any  State,  pronounced  him 
guilty,  and  sentenced  him  to  the  penitentiary  for  ten  years! 
He  was  started  at  once  for  the  prison  in  Salt  Lake  City,  but 
managed  to  inform  Judge  Strickland,  a  lawyer  of  the  city,  who 
succeeded  in  having  him  brought  before  Chief  Justice  Wilson, 
of  the  District  Court,  by  writ  of  habeas  corpus,  where  the  girl 
refused  to  testify  to  anything  criminating  him,  and  he  was  re- 
leased. This  atrocious  perversion  of  legal  principles  was  prac- 
ticed all  over  the  country  settlements  by  these  bishops — judges, 
who  were  directed  in  their  proceedings  by  "  authority,"  and  used 
their  offices  to  drive  out  or  scare  away  all  dissenting  Mormons. 
If  the  accused  was  brought  to  Salt  Lake  City,  the  United  States 
officials  were  often  able  to  interfere ;  but  no  matter  how  plain 
and  direct  the  evidence,  as  in  the  case  above,  nine-tenths  of  the 


THR  "  HICK.OEY  MOBMON'S  EXAMPLE." 


(343) 


344 


POLYGAMY;    4>R,   THE   MYSTERIES 


Mormons  merely  thought  it  another  case,  in  which  a  vile  crim- 
inal was  let  loose  upon  them  by  Gentile  judges. 

As  might  be  expected,  the  Brighamites  were  very  tenacious 
of  this  great  power  in  their  hands,  and  threatened  and  blustered 
whenever  it  was  questioned.  In  a  case  tried  before  Chief  Jus- 
tice Wilson,  the  power  of  the  Probate  courts  was  put  in  issue, 
and  on  the  20th  of  November,  1868,  when  this  case  was  argued, 
Z.  Snow,  a  Mormon  lawyer,  and  Attorney-General  for  Utah, 
said :  "  If  his  Honor  decided  against  such  jurisdiction,  blood 


ATTEMPT"  FOB  WHICH  THE  BISHOP  SENT  HIM  TO  THE  PENITENTIARY. 


would  flow  in  the  streets  of  this  city."  From  the  known  char- 
acter of  Judge  Snow,  it  is  highly  probable  he  never  would  have 
made  such  a  statement  but  by  express  direction  from  Brigham 
Young.  The  statement  was  made  in  open  court,  in  presence 
of  the  entire  bar  of  the  city,  and  a  few  moments  after  consulta- 
tion with  his  associate  counsel,  also  a  Mormon.  The  plain 
meaning  of  this  was,  that  the  Brighamites  intended  to  obey  the 
law  only  when  construed  in  their  favor,  but  otherwise  to  evade 


AND   CRIMES   OF   MORMONISM.  345 

it,  and,  when  safe,  try  violence.  Fair  notice  was  thus  given 
to  all  officials  to  yield,  or  be  crushed.  Judge  Snow  also  said 
that,  until  within  a  few  years,  "  United  States  Judges  had  not 
resided  here  but  a  very  small  portion  of  their  time,  though  he 
did  not  know  why." 

This  hint  opens  to  remembrance  a  melancholy  view  of  the 
dishonor  to  our  government  through  its  officials  in  Utah.  Not 
that  Brigham  Young  tried  violence  in  many  cases.  He  was 
far  too  wary  for  that.  Brute  force  is  the  last  resort  of  a  really 
astute  mind,  like  that  of  Brigham.  Chicane  was  his  natural 
weapon,  and  with  it  he  completely  circumvented  the  majority 
of  the  judges ;  assisted  too  often  by  the  imbecile  appointments 
from  the  time  of  Fill  more  until  Lincoln's  Administration. 
The  first  judge,  Perry  E.  Brochus,  was  incautious  in  his  attacks 
upon  polygamy,  and,  having  been  led  to  believe  that  his  life 
was  in  danger,  left  the  Territory.  Another  official  was  de- 
tected in  immorality,  and  resigned  to  avoid  exposure ;  another 
disgraced  his  office  by  taking  a  prostitute  upon  the  bench  with 
him ;  another  impaired  his  efficiency  by  secret  drinking ;  and 
still  another  allowed  himself  to  be  completely  entrapped  by 
two  of  Brigham's  "  decoy  women." 

It  is  a  prime  principle  of  the  Mormon  faith  that  their  affairs 
ought  not  to  come  before  a  Gentile  court  at  all ;  and  if  they 
must  go  there  in  a  case  where  a  Gentile  is  interested,  the  jury 
should  be  governed  by  "  counsel  "  in  making  up  their  verdict. 
But  there  seem  to  have  been  restive  spirits,  even  in  the  most 
palmy  days  of  the  church  government,  who  were  often  chas- 
tised from  the  Mormon  pulpit,  as  witness  the  following  from  a 
sermon  delivered  in  the  Tabernacle  by  Jedediah  M.  Grant,  one 
of  Brigham  Young's  councillors,  on  Sunday,  March  2d,  1856 : 

"  Last  Sunday  the  President  chastised  some  of  the  Apostles 
and  Bishops  who  were  on  the  grand  jury.  Did  he  fully  sue- 


346  POLYGAMY;   OR,   THE   MYSTERIES 

ceed  in  clearing  away  the  fog  that  surrounded  them,  and  in 
removing  blindness  from  their  eyes?  No;  for  they  could  go 
to  their  room  and  again  disagree,  though  to  their  credit  be  it 
said,  a  little  explanation  made  them  unanimous  in  their  action. 
But  how  is  it  with  the  little  jury?  Some  of  them  have  got 
into  the  fog  to  suck  down  the  words  and  eat  the  filth  of  a  Gen- 
tile court,  ostensibly  a  court  in  Utah." 

This  extract  gives  a  sufficiently  clear  idea  of  the  jury  system 
in  Utah,  and  from  all  that  has  yet  appeared  the  attempt  to 
enforce  any  Federal  statute  by  Mormon  juries,  would  simply 
amount  to  a  solemn  farce.  To  render  the  matter  worse,  these 
Bishop-judges  were  not  elected  by  the  people,  but  under  the 
provisions  of  the  Judiciary  Act,  were  appointed  by  the  Terri- 
torial Legislature,  which  meant  in  effect  by  Brigham  Young ; 
thus  the  Judiciary  were  as  completely  under  his  management 
as  the  officers  of  the  ecclesiastical  organization.  One  might 
think  there  was  still  some  chance  for  the  people  in  voting,  and 
many  are  inclined  to  ask :  If  there  was  dissatisfaction,  or  oppo- 
sition to  Brigham  Young's  government,  could  it  not  make 
itself  felt  in  the  elections?  Even  this  outlet  was  effectually 
barred  by  the  following  Section  of  "An  act  regulating  elec- 
tions," passed  in  January,  1853: 

"  Each  elector  shall  provide  himself  with  a  ballot  containing 
the  names  of  the  persons  he  wishes  elected,  and  the  offices  he 
would  have  them  fill,  and  present  it  neatly  folded  to  the  judge 
of  the  election,  who  shall  number  it  and  deposit  it  in  the  ballot- 
box.  The  clerk  shall  then  write  the  name  of  the  elector  and 
opposite  thereto  the  number  of  his  vote." 

With  a  sarcasm  which  is  almost  amusing,  the  Mormon  lea- 
ders call  this  a  measure  "  to  protect  the  freedom  and  purity  of 
the  ballot.'r  Thus  artistically  did  they  abolish  the  free  vote 
while  they  retained  the  ballot.  "Thus,"  says  the  English 


AND  CRIMES  OF   MOBMONISM.  347 

Captain  Burton,  their  apologist,  "  they  retain  the  privilege  of 
voting,  while  they  avoid  the  evils  of  universal  suffrage ;  sub- 
jecting, as  it  always  should  be,  the  ignorant  many  to  the  super- 
vision of  the  intelligent  few." 

Under  this  system,  Brigham  Young's  emissary  could  go  into 
any  precinct  in  the  Territory  and  discover  just  how  any  man 
had  voted  at  any  election  for  the  last  twenty-five  years!  And 
with  this  ignorant  people,  alive  to  spiritual  terrors,  and  know- 
ing too  well  what  temporal  trouble  may  be  brought  upon  them, 
it  is  plain  that  the  opposition  must  be  in  a  majority  before  it 
could  venture  to  make  itself  known.  It  could  not  make  a 
start  to  consolidate.  It  may  be  worthy  of  note  here,  that  all 
the  officers  of  the  Mormon  church  are  proposed  for  re-election 
or  rejection,  twice  every  year,  at  the  General  Conferences,  thus 
apparently  tempering  this  theocratic  absolutism  -with  universal 
suffrage,  women  voting  as  well  as  men.  But  only  three  in- 
stances have  been  known  of  persons  daring  to  vote  against  the 
known  wishes  of  the  hierarchy ;  and  in  each  case  the  offenders 
were  promptly  cited  before  the  High  Council  and  required  to 
explain,  in  default  of  which  they  were  "  cut  off"  as  being  in  a 
"spirit  of  apostasy."  Practically,  one  man  in  each  settlement 
or  ward  might  just  as  well  do  all  the  voting.  The  church  puts 
her  ticket  in  the  field,  and  the  bishop  directs  the  people  to  vote 
it,  which  they  do  unanimously.  A  gentleman  who  was  present 
says  he  saw  John  D.  Lee  stand  at  the  polls  and  cast  360  votes: 
for  himself  and  all  his  wives,  for  his  sons  and  all  their  wives, 
for  his  daughters  and  their  husbands,  for  Indians  and  others  in 
his  employ,  and  for  all  the  neighbors  who  sent  their  ballots 
along  by  him.  The  humor  of  this  system  was  greatly  height- 
ened by  the  adoption  of  woman  suffrage,  the  Mormon  women 
almost  invariably  voting  the  ticket  handed  them  by  the  elder 
without  even  reading  it. 


348 


POLYGAMY;    OR,   THE    MYSTERIES 


On  one  memorable  occasion  a  sort  of  spiritual  rebellion 
occurred  in  the  Utah  Lake  district,  where  many  American  con- 
verts reside,  and  the  opposition  candidate  to  the  Legislature 
was  elected.  On  reaching  Salt  Lake  City  the  successful  candi- 
date was  simply  "  counseled  "  to  resign,  did  so  quietly,  and  the 
regular  nominee  was  declared  entitled  to  the  seat.  In  1867 
the  Jews,  Gentiles,  Apostates  and  recusant  Mormons  of  the 
Thirteenth  Ward,  in  the  city,  found  they  had  a  majority,  as 
nearly  all  of  these  classes  in  the  city  lived  in  that  ward.  They 


THE  OLD  APOSTATE. 

elected  Bishop  Wooley,  a  good  Mormon,  however,  for  council- 
man, against  the  regular  nominee.  The  Bishop  was  at  once 
cited  before  Brigham,  promptly  resigned  according  to  "  coun- 
sel," and  the  other  candidate  was  admitted  to  the  seat. 

When  the  celebrated  and  somewhat  amusing  Hooper- 
McGroarty  race,  for  delegate  to  Congress,  took  place,  hundreds 
who  would  have  voted  for  an  available  Gentile  nominee,  but 
who  regarded  McGroarty's  candidacy  as  a  mere  burlesque,  did 
not  vote  at  all ;  consequently  that  gentleman  received  less  than 


AND   CRIMES  OF   MORMONISM.  349 

two  hundred  votes,  while,  as  the  Mormons  did  their  best, 
Hooper  received  some  fifteen  thousand.  It  was  long  a  stand- 
ing joke  in  Utah  to  repeat  portions  of  McGroarty's  speech,  pre- 
pared to  be  delivered  before  Congress ;  he  employed  a  lawyer 
to  write  it  for  him,  and  while  committing  it  to  memory,  he 
could  never  talk  ten  minutes  with  a  friend  without  running 
into  his  speech,  assuming  an  oratorical  manner,  and  the  plural 
number,  as  if  addressing  Congress. 

The  evils  of  this  system  of  voting  are  numerous,  besides  the 
immense  power  it  gives  a  few  leaders:  but  one  is  particularly 
noticeable,  the  number  and  variety  of  offices  held  by  the  same 
man.  In  the  town  of  Fillmore,  the  old  capital,  at  one  time 
one  man  held  the  offices  of  County  Clerk  and  Recorder,  Town 
Clerk  and  Justice  of  the  Peace,  Assessor  and  Collector  of 
Internal  Revenue,  and  ex-officio  Overseer  of  the  Poor.  In 
1867-68,  in  Salt  Lake  City,  one  Robert  T.  Burton  was  Collec- 
tor of  Internal  Revenue  for  the  Territory,  Sheriff  of  the  county, 
Assessor  and  Collector  of  Territorial  and  county  taxes,  and  a 
General  in  the  Nauvoo  Legion ;  besides  being  a  prominent 
elder  in  the  church,  the  husband  of  three  wives,  and  one  of  the 
chiefs  of  the  secret  police.  This  Burton  is  the  man  who  led 
the  posse  to  capture  the  Morrisites,  and,  according  to  his  own 
account,  shot  four  of  those  people  after  their  surrender,  and  hia 
continuance  in  the  revenue  office  was  a  damning  blot  upon  the 
Johnson  administration  in  Utah.  He  is  in  appearance 

"  The  mildest  mannered  man 
That  ever  scuttled  ship  or  cut  a  throat." 

But  if  there  is  truth  in  one-fourth  the  private  memoirs  of 
apostates,  he  is  a  most  cruel  and  blood-thirsty  bigot 

Ail  the  various  civil  officers  are  at  the  same  time  leading 
dignitaries  in  the  Mormon  Church,  active  agents  of  its  will, 


350  POLYGAMY;   OR,   THE    MYSTERIES 

chosen  to  their  civil  position  solely  on  that  account;  they  con- 
sider the  latter  far  inferior  in  importance,  and,  in  fact,  subordi- 
nate in  policy  to  their  Church  dignities,  and  knowing  little,  if 
any,  law,  they  are  guided  by  ecclesiastical  authority  and 
"  counsel." 

Let  one  travel  wherever  he  will  through  the  outer  settle- 
ments, he  rarely  if  ever  hears  the  people  speak  of  the  Probate 
Judges  as  judges;  it  is  always  "the  bishop  decided  so  and  so." 
With  them  he  is  always  acting  in  his  character  as  bishop,  never 
as  judge.  Nor  need  we  be  surprised  at  this;  it  is  the  natural 
conflict  under  such  a  system,  between  the  theocratic,  the  eccle- 
siastical, and  the  popular,  the  democratic  and  laical.  The 
American  idea  is  that  power  is  derived  from  the  people,  is 
merely  delegated  to  the  officer,  and  rests  upon  the  just  consent 
of  the  governed.  The  Mormon  idea  is  exactly  the  reverse : 
power  and  authority  come  from  above  and  operate  downward 
through  all  the  grades ;  the  official  is  not  responsible  to  those 
below  him — to  them  he  is  the  voice  of  God — but  to  those 
above  him ;  from  them  he  derives  his  authority,  and  to  them 
he  must  render  an  account. 

In  the  words  of  a  Mormon  polemic,  "  It  is  not  consistent 
that  the  people  of  God  should  organize  or  be  subject  to  man- 
made  governments.  If  it  were  so,  they  could  never  be  per- 
fected. There  can  be  but  one  perfect  government — that  organ- 
ized by  God ;  a  government  by  apostles,  prophets,  priests, 
teachers,  and  evangelists ;  the  order  of  the  orginal  Church,  of 
all  churches  acknowledged  by  God."  I  am  thus  minute  in  my 
statements,  because  so  many  people  in  the  East  have  an  idea 
that  polygamy  is  the  only  great  evil  of  Mormonism.  There 
are  many  evils  felt  more  than  that ;  in  fact,  polygamy  in  itself 
is  but  a  slight  annoyance  to  the  Gentile  residents  of  Utah. 

Mormonism  was  an  unmitigated  evil  before  they  had  polyg- 


AND   CRIMES   OF   MORMONISM.  351 

amy;  the  priests  ruled  the  ignorant  people  with  spiritual 
terrors,  and  that  made  them  dangerous  neighbors  and  trouble- 
some citizens  wherever  they  lived.  Probably  some  of  these 
other  evils  grew  out  of  or  have  been  strengthened  by  polyg- 
amy, but  that  of  itself  troubles  other  residents  very  little.  It 
is  that  the  Territory  is  ruled  ^by  a  Church,  that  civil  and  legal 
measures  are  carried  by  ecclesiastical  policy  rather  than  law ; 
that  residents,  not  Mormons,  are  subjected  to  all  the  annoy- 
ances of  petty  tyranny ;  that  in  their  business  and  social  life 
they  are  constantly  subjected  to  the  secret  espionage  of  the 
Church ;  that  they  are  hampered  in  business  by  church  hos- 
tility and  the  imposition  of  excessive  taxes;  that  friends  and 
fellow-countrymen  have  been  secretly  murdered,  and  the 
Church  prevents  them  from  obtaining  justice;  in  short  they 
are  exposed  to  the  tyranny  of  an  unopposed  majority,  and  that 
majority  controlled  by  a  small  and  compact  hierarchy,  working 
out  its  Star-chamber  decrees  against  liberty  by  secret  and,  to 
the  people,  irresponsible  agents. 

It  is  this  that  grinds  the  feelings  of  American  citizens,  not 
polygamy,  though  that  is  a  great  moral  and  social  evil.  The 
Mormon  people  as  a  mass  are  naturally  disposed  to  deal  justly, 
but,  unfortunately,  the  people  are  ciphers,  and  it  seems  to  be 
the  policy  of  their  leaders  to  keep  them  in  a  constant  state  of 
irritation  and  hostile  feeling  towards  all  outsiders,  and  to  the 
Government  of  the  United  States. 

Thus  it  is  the  union  of  church  and  state,  or  rather  the  abso- 
lute subservience  of  the  state  to  the  church,  the  latter  merely 
using  the  outside  organization  to  carry  into  effect  decrees  al- 
ready concluded  in  secret  council,  that  makes  Mormonism  our 
enemy.  Missouri  and  Illinois  found,  at  dear  cost,  that  no  State 
could  tolerate  a  church  exercising  an  absolute  temporal  juris- 
diction, within  the  State,  but  independent  of  and  often  hostile 


352  POLYGAMY;    OR,   THE    MYSTERIES 

to  it ;  dominating  and  directing  the  action  of  courts  within  its 
influence,  subverting  free  institutions,  and  exercising  a  greater 
right  over  the  consciences  of  its  subjects  than  is  claimed  by  the 
laws  of  the  State.  In  short,  it  is  not  the  social,  immoral,  or 
polygamic  features  that  so  chiefly  concern  us,  but  the  hostile, 
the  treasonable,  and  the  mutinous.  The  law  against  polygamy 
should  be  strictly  enforced,  as  every  other  law  of  the  Govern- 
ment ;  but  it  is  idle  to  say,  as  so  many  do,  that  that  is  the  only 
objection  to  the  Mormons,  or  to  the  admission  of  Utah  as  a 
State.  If  polygamy  were  blotted  out  to-morrow,  we  could 
never  admit  Utah  in  her  present  condition.  Such  a  State  or- 
ganization would  be  opposed  to  every  principle  of  our  political 
structure,  and  our  Constitution  was  never  meant  to  recognize 
the  temporal  government  of  a  church.  Happily  the  late  Ad- 
ministrations have  recognized  many  of  the  needs  of  Utah,  and 
aimed  to  remove  all  polygamists  and  Mormon  sympathizers 
from  office,  filling  their  places  with  good  men.  Much  remains 
to  be  done  by  the  Executive  and  Congress,  but  it  is  gratifying 
to  note  that  some  reform  has  been  effected,  and  that  Utah  is  no 
longer  what  it  was  through  three  Administrations,  "  the  Botany 
Bay  of  worn-out  politicians."  The  revolt  of  the  Gentiles  in 
1870,  and  their  persistent  attempts  to  set  up  a  republic  in 
Utah,  with  the  help  of  the  courts  and  Congress,  and  the  des- 
perate measures  of  the  Mormons  to  defeat  them,  make  up  the 
political  history  of  Utah  from  that  to  the  present  time ;  and 
this  will  be  related  in  detail  in  the  proper  place. 


AND   CRIMES   OF   MORMON1SM.  353 


CHAPTER    XVII. 

THE   MORMON   TERRITORY. 

Territorial  limits — "Basins" — "Sinks" — "Flats" — Rain  and  evaporation — 
Elemental  action  and  reaction — Potamology — Jordan— Kay's  Creek — Weber 
— Bear  River — Cache  Valley — Timber — Blue  Creek — Promontory — Great 
Desert — Utah  Lake — Spanish  Fork — Salt  Creek — Timpanogos — Sevier 
River_Colorado  System — Fish — Thermal  and  Chemical  Springs — Healing 
Waters — Hotwater  plants — Analysis  by  Dr.  Gale — Mineral  Springs — Salt 
beds— Alkali  flats— Native  Salts— GREAT  SALT  LAKE— First  accounts— 
FREMONT — STANSBURY — Amount  of  salt — Valleys — Rise  of  the  Lake — 
Islands— Bear  Lake — u  Ginasticutis  " — Utah  Lake — Climate — Increase  of 
rain — Singular  phenomena — Fine  air — Relief  for  pulmonary  complaints — 
Natural  wealth  of  Utah— Game — Indians  and  Mormons. 

UTAH  is  included  between  the  37th  and  42d  parallels  of 
North  latitude,  and  meridians  109  and  114  west  from  Green- 
wich ;  deducting,  however,  from  the  northeast  corner  a  section 
of  one  degree  of  latitude  by  two  of  longitude,  lately  attached 
to  Wyoming.  Its  greatest  length  is  thus,  from  north  to  south, 
five  full  degrees,  and  its  width  from  east  to  west,  five  of  the 
shorter  meridiaual  degrees;  the  whole  area  divided  nearly 
equally  between  two  geographical  sections,  viz.:  the  valley  and 
drainage  of  the  Colorado  and  its  affluents,  the  Green  and 
Grand  rivers,  and  the  district  known  as  the  Great  or  Interior 
Basin.  This  remarkable  section,  containing  the  western  half 
of  Utah,  all  of  Nevada,  and  a  part  of  southeastern  California, 
includes  all  that  portion  of  the  continent  extending  north  and 
south  between  the  parallels  37  and  42,  and  from  east  to  west 

from  near  the  meridian  111,  Greenwich,  to  the  Sierra  Nevadas, 
23 


354 


POLYGAMY. 


which  tend  northwesterly  from  the  meridian  of  116,  to  that  of 
121 :  an  irregular  parallelogram  four  hundred  miles  in  extent, 
from  north  to  south,  and  five  hundred  miles  from  east  to  west. 
The  term  "  basin,"  is  only  applicable  to  the  whole  tract,  in 
view  of  the  fact,  that  its  waters  have  no  outlet  to  the  ocean, 
for  the  general  level  of  the  lower  tracts  is  as  high  as  average 
mountain  ranges,  and  the  so-called  valleys  are  little  more  than 
mountain  flats ;  the  entire  section  is  thus  composed  of  a  succes- 
sion of  heights,  basins,  and  mountain  plateaus.  A  "succession 
of  basins,"  because  many  of  the  traverse  ranges  are  of  almost 
equal  height  with  those  on  the  borders;  dotted  also  in  the  most 
level  portions  with  detached  hills  and  knobs,  relieved  at  rare 
intervals  by  fertile  vales,  spotted  again  by  vast  deserts  of  sand 
and  alkali  or  brackish  lakes — a  region 

"  Now  of  frozen,  now  of  scorching  alps, 
Rocks,  fens,  bogs,  dens  and  shades  of  death." 

The  Wasatch  mountains  on  the  east,  and  Sierra  Nevadas  on 
the  west,  like  the  two  sides  of  a  (  ),  inclose  a  region  known  as 
the  Great  Basin,  in  which  nature  appears  to  have  worked  on  a 
different  plan  from  that  pursued  in  the  rest  of  the  country. 
All  the  streams  run  towards  the  centre,  none  towards  the  sea ; 
a  river  is  larger  at  the  head  than  at  the  mouth — when  it  has  a 
mouth — very  few  of  the  lakes  have  any  outlet,  and,  with  rare 
exceptions,  both  pools  and  lakes  are  bitter  with  salt,  iron,  lime, 
or  alkali.  From  the  mountains  which  form  the  rim  of  the 
Great  Basin,  sub-ranges  successively  fall  off  towards  the  centre, 
and  the  whole  interior  plain  is  an  almost'  unbroken  desert. 
But  from  the  Wasatch  and  Sierras  many  streams  put  out 
towards  the  centre,  and,  at  the  points  where  they  leave  the 
mountains,  are  bordered  by  little  fan-shaped  valleys.  These 
constitute,  all  the  cultivable  land  in  the  Basin ;  the  rest  is  fit 


CANON  ON  GREEN  RIVER,  EASTERN  UTAH. 


(355) 


356  POLYGAMY;    OR,   THE    MYSTERIES 

only  for  timber  or  grazing,  or  is  totally  barren.  Throughout 
the  Basin  all  the  detached  mountains  run  north  and  south ;  on 
them  is  the  only  timber,  and  about  their  base  the  only  grass  to 
be  found.  If  the  mountain  is  high  enough  to  supply  melting 
snow  throughout  the  summer,  there  may  be  a  settlement  at  its 
base ;  otherwise  all  the  streams  that  issue  from  it  will  be  dry 
in  early  spring,  and  cultivation,  that  is  to  say,  irrigation,  be 
impossible. 

Southward,  the  country  grows  steadily  dryer  and  more 
barren ;  the  valleys  smaller,  the  deserts  larger,  the  streams 
more  unreliable.  In  Arizona  and  Southern  Utah,  I  found  it 
difficult,  indeed,  to  get  water  twice  in  a  day's  ride.  In  the 
north  the  most  rugged  mountains  are  relieved  by  graceful  ad- 
juncts; there  is  a  gradual  ascent  from  plain  to  bench,  from 
bench  to  foot-hill  and  lower  sub-range,  and  over  all  is  a  faint 
green  tinge  from  brush  or  bunch-grass,  or  a  dreamy  haze  that 
softens  the  rudest  outlines.  But  in  the  south  there  is  a  gran- 
deur that  is  awfully  suggestive — suggestive  of  death  and  worn- 
out  lands,  of  cosmic  convulsions  and  volcanic  catastrophes  that 
swept  away  whole  races  of  pre- Adamites.  There  the  broad 
plateaus  are  cut  abruptly  by  deep  cafions  with  perpendicular 
sides,  sometimes  2,000  feet  in  height ;  there  is  a  less  gradual 
approach  to  the  highest  ranges,  and  the  peaks  stand  out  sharply 
defined  against  a  hard  blue  sky.  The  air  is  noticeably  dryer; 
there  is  no  haze  to  soften  the  view,  and  the  severe  outlines  of 
the  cliffs  seem  to  frown  menacingly  upon  one  who  threads  the 
caflons.  Needle  rocks  project  hundreds  of  feet  above  the 
general  level,  while  hard  volcanic  dykes  rise  above  the  softer 
lime  or  sandstone — mighty  battlements,  abrupt  and  impassable 
— Pelion  upon  Ossa  piled,  as  in  Titanic  war. 

As  nearly  all  the  fertile  valleys  open  westward  from  the 
Wasatch,  it  results  that  Mormondom  consists  of  a  narrow  line 


AND   CRIMES   OF    MORMONISM.  357 

of  settlements :  an  attenuated  commonwealth  rarely  more  than 
ten  miles  wide,  but  seven  hundred  miles  long  from  Oneida  in 
Idaho  to  the  Rio  Virgen  in  Arizona.  Geographically  it  nearly 
fills  the  definition  of  a  line — extension  without  breadth  or  thick- 
ness. Manifestly  such  a  commonwealth  would  develop  a  very 
different  system  of  government  from  that  known  in  the  States, 
where  farm  joins  farm  and  settlement  is  contiguous  to  settle- 
ment; and  had  it  not  been  warped  by  theocracy,  a  liberal  can- 
tonal system  must  have  grown  up.  Most  of  the  mountain 
streams  sink  before  connecting  with  any  other  body  of  water, 
in  many  places  among  the  foot-hills  before  reaching  the  plain ; 
others  spread  out  and  supply  natural  irrigation  to  a  mile  or 
two  of  land,  producing  broad  savannas  of  coarse,  rank  grass, 
little  oases,  quite  attractive  in  themselves  and  delightful  in 
comparison  with  the  sterility  beyond.  Along  the  foot  of  some 
ranges  the  traveler,  every  mile  or  so,  crosses  a  considerable 
stream,  rushing  clear  and  strong  from  the  mountain  hollows, 
but  two  or  three  miles  down  the  plain  not  a  channel  or  trace 
of  water  is  to  be  found,  the  thirsty  soil,  warm  sun,  and  drying 
air,  having  exhausted  the  scant  liquid ;  and  it  is  only  in  very 
wet  seasons  that  any  of  these  streams  form  lakes.  In  other 
localities  a  more  plentiful  supply  and  the  cool  shadow  of  long 
ranges  give  rise  to  streams  of  sufficient  size  to  be  called  rivers, 
of  which  the  best  known  in  Utah  are  the  Jordan,  Bear  river, 
Sevier,  Ogden  and  Weber ;  and  bordering  these  larger  streams 
are  valleys  of  great  fertility,  comprising  the  agricultural  wealth 
of  the  Territory.  Many  of  the  smaller  streams  form  long, 
shallow  lagoons  or  marshes  near  the  centres  or  at  the  points  of 
lowest  depression  in  the  basins,  generally  called  "sinks,"  in 
which  term  is  embodied  an  empirical  explanation  of  the  dis- 
appearance of  the  water,  by  those  ignorant  of  the  fact,  that  in 
nature's  laboratory  action  and  reaction  are  equal,  and  that  the 


358  POLYGAMY. 

« 

fall  of  rain  and  snow  in  an  enclosed  basin  must  be  exactly 
counter-balanced  by  evaporation.  In  most  cases  the  water 
supply  is  so  scant  that  these  "sinks"  become  entirely  dry  in 
summer,  and  are  then  known  as  "  mud  flats,"  of  which  the 
most  extensive  are  in  Western  Nevada.  A  smaller  number 
contain  some  water  all  the  year,  of  which  a  few  rise  to  the 
dignity  of  lakes.  With  no  outlets,  and  receiving  all  the 
chemical  material  brought  down  by  the  wash  of  their  "  feeders," 
they  are  of  necessity  either  very  saline  in  character,  or  brackish 
and  impregnated  with  iron. 

Throughout  the  Great  Basin  certain  general  features  are 
observable;  the  mountain  ranges  mostly  run  north  and  south, 
and  the  longer  valleys  lie  in  the  same  direction.  But  in  this 
particular  man  has  not  been  able  to  accommodate  himself  to 
nature,  and  the  course  of  civilization  as  well  as  empire  has  made 
it  necessary  for  the  roads  to  run  east  and  west.  One  may  go 
from  Montana  to  Arizona,  and  travel  in  valleys  nearly  all  "the 
way,  seldom  crossing  anything  more  than  a  low  "divide,"  but 
from  east  to  west  each  range  must  be  crossed  at  certain  points, 
for  which  cause  the  old  road  south  of  the  lake  was  a  perfect 
zig-zag,  selecting  the  most  feasible  valleys,  avoiding  the  moun- 
tains wherever  possible,  or  "  canyoning"  up  one  side  and  down 
the  other,  diverging  great  'distances  from  the  direct  line,  and 
running  to  almost  every  point  of  the  compass. 

The  rim  of  the  Basin  is  uncontinuous,  formed  by  various 
ranges.  On  the  north  are  the  broken  chains  of  the  Oregon 
system,  from  8,000  to  10,000  feet  high,  sending  out  many  spurs 
and  transverse  ridges.  On  the  western  border  the  Sierra 
Nevadas  average  10,000  feet,  and  some  peaks  tower  far  above 
that  altitude.  On  the  south  are  the  lower  sub-ranges  of  the 
Rocky  mountains,  mere  "divides,"  separating  the  waters  of  the 
Basin  from  those  of  the  Colorado ;  and  on  the  east  is  the  main 


359 


360  POLYGAMY;   OR,   THE   MYSTERIES 

Uintah  range,  known  by  various  names,  with  several  portions 
rising  to  10,000  feet.  Thus  the  surface  configuration  of  Utah 
is  a  great  depression  in  a  mountain  land,  a  trough,  so  to  speak, 
elevated  4,000  or  5,000  feet  above  sea  level ;  subtended  on  all 
sides  by  mountain  ranges  8,000  to  10,000  feet  high,  and  sub- 
divided by  transverse  ranges ;  in  the  geologic  age,  an  inland  sea, 
in  aboriginal  times,  the  retreat  of  the  most  abject  savages — long 
a  region  of  misconception  and  fable — then  the  chosen  home  of  a 
strange  religion,  and  but  yesterday  found  to  be  of  use  and  inter- 
est to  the  civilized  world.  Leaving  the  mountain  ranges  which 
bound  the  great  basin,  there  is  a  general  breaking  down,  so  to 
speak,  towards  the  interior;  few  of  these  ridges  present  regular 
slopes,  but  are  formed  of  acute  and  angular  cappings,  superim- 
posed upon  flatter  prisons ;  and  frequently  after  ascending  two- 
thirds  from  the  base,  the  upper  part  becomes  wall-like  and  in- 
surmountable. Of  these  peaks  or  terminal  headlands,  the  most 
noted  are  the  Twin  Peaks,  southeast  of  Salt  Lake  City,  ascer- 
tained by  Orson  Pratt  and  Albert  Carrington  to  be  11,660  feet 
in  height ;  Mount  Nebo,  8,000  feet ;  the  Wasatch  spur,  near 
Salt  Lake  City,  averaging  6,000  feet,  and  the  Oquirrh  range, 
which  terminates  in  a  bold  headland  at  the  south  end  of  the 
Lake,  locally  known  as  the  West  Mountain,  lying  twenty  miles 
west  of  Salt  Lake  City. 

The  Salt  Lake  Basin,  including  many  adjacent  and  connect- 
ing valleys,  was  evidently  an  inland  sea,  as  shown  by  the 
"  bench  formation,"  a  system  of  water-marks  along  the  moun- 
tains, points  of  successive  subsidence  of  the  waters;  while  many 
of  the  detached  mountain  peaks  were  as  evidently  islands,  simi- 
lar to  those  now  rising  above  the  surface  of  the  lake.  Accord- 
ing to  some,  the  dry  land  was  formed  by  successive  upheavals ; 
according  to  others,  by  ages  of  evaporation.  If  the  latter 
theory  be  correct,  it  must  have  been  through  a  dry  cycle  of 


AND   CRIMES   OF    MORMONISM.  361 

^irtiiy  thousand  years,  and  if,  as  many  suppose,  the  cycle  has  ended 
and  the  rain  zones  are  changing  so  as  to  again  include  this  section, 
we  may  look  for  a  still  greater  rise  in  the  lake  surface  than 
that  of  the  last  few  years. 

The  river  system  of  Utah  is  curious,  but  unimportant  as  to 
navigation.  The  noted  Jordan,  an  exact  counterpart  of  its 
Eastern  namesake,  has  its  origin  in  Utah  Lake,  and  by  a 
course  of  fifty  miles,  a  little  west  of  north,  discharges  the  sur- 
plus waters  of  that  body  into  Great  Salt  Lake.  It  is  quite 
evident,  however,  from  mere  inspection,  that  a  much  greater 
quantity  of  water  is  poured  into  Utah  Lake  from  its  many 
mountain  affluents  than  flows  out  through  the  Jordan ;  a  small 
portion  may  escape  by  percolation,  but  at  that  elevation  and  in 
that  drying  air  more  is  accounted  for  by  evaporation.  This 
stream  has  an  average  width  of  eight  or  ten  rods;  through  the 
upper  part  of  its  course  and  in  Jordan  Cafion  it  is  swift  and 
shallow,  in  the  lower  valley  and  near  the  city  more  sluggish, 
with  a  depth  of  ten  feet  or  more. 

Passing  around  the  lake  eastwardly,  the  next  stream  of  any 
note  is  Kay's  creek,  furnishing  plentiful  irrigation  to  the  farms 
of  Kay's  Ward,  besides  which,  there  are  numerous  streams  of 
smaller  size  which  break  out  of  the  Wasatch  range,  are  diverted 
into  irrigating  canals,  and  by  a  thousand  rills  through  the 
farms  find  their  way  to  the  marshy  lands  near  the  lake. 

The  main  stream  from  the  east  is  the  Weber,  which  has  its 
rise  some  sixty  miles  east  of  Salt  Lake  City,  in  the  highest  val- 
ley of  Summit  county ;  thence,  flowing  to  the  north,  is  swelled 
by  the  waters  of  East  Branch,  Silver,  White,  Clay  and  Echo 
creeks,  then  turning  northwest  breaks  through  the  Wasatch 
range,  gives  form  and  name  to  Weber  Cafion,  enters  the  valley 
thirty-three  miles  north  of  Salt  Lake  City,  and  forming  a  large 
U,  with  the  bend  sharply  to  the  north,  enters  the  lake.  Bear 


362  POLYGAMY;    OR,   THE   MYSTERIES 

river  rises  in  the  same  county,  and  but  a  little  east  and  north 
of  the  Weber,  and  running  nearly  two  hundred  miles  down  a 
northern  slope,  between  two  spurs  of  the  Uintah  mountains, 
forms  a  great  U  in  Idaho,  then  turning  southwest,  "canyons" 
through  another  spur  of  the  Uintah,  into  Cache  Valley,  the 
northeastern  section  of  the  Territory  and  home  of  12,000  Mor- 
mons ;  then  "  canyons  "  downward  three  miles,  with  a  rapid  fall, 
out  of  Cache  into  Bear  River  Valley,  through  which  it  runs  to 
the  head  of  Bear  River  Bay,  the  last  twenty  miles  of  its  course 
the  only  navigable  river  in  Utah.  From  the  mouth  of  Bear 
River  Canon  to  the  head  of  the  bay  is  about  thirty-five  miles 
in  a  direct  line,  the  valley  maintaining  an  average  width  of  fif- 
teen miles  down  to  Corinne,  where  it  widens  imperceptibly  into 
Salt  Lake  Valley.  Bear  river  runs  through  the  finest  lumber 
region  in  Utah,  of  which  it  is  the  natural  outlet. 

The  Malad  joins  Bear  river  a  few  miles  above  Corinne,  be- 
twreen  which  place  and  the  promontory  there  are  a  few  springs 
breaking  out  of  the  mountains,  constituting  but  one  stream 
large  enough  to  have  a  name,  Blue  creek.  West  of  the  pro- 
montory a  few  springs  run  together  in  the  midst  of  a  horrible 
desert  and  form  Indian  creek,  which  sometimes  reaches  the 
lake  in  wet  seasons.  Thence,  around  the  head  of  the  lake  and 
down  the  entire  western  shore,  for  one  hundred  miles,  there  is 
no  stream  large  enough  to  have  a  name  and  not  fertile  land 
enough  for  a  garden.  All  the  flat  between  the  lake  and  the 
mountains  of  Nevada  is  a  waste  of  sand,  salt,  rock  and  alkali — 
at  least  7,000  square  miles  of  desert,  with  water  only  in  two  or 
three  places,  forty  miles  apart. 

On  the  southwest  a  small  creek  from  Tooele  Valley  reaches 
the  lake,  completing  the  list  of  affluents  to  that  bod}7.  Next  in 
importance  are  the  feeders  of  Utah  Lake,  of  which  the  princi- 
pal are,  Salt  creek  from  the  south,  Spanish  Fork  from  the 


AND   CRIMES   OF    MORMONISM.         .  363 

east,  and  Timpanogas  from  the  northeast,  with  the  addition  of 
several  smaller  streams.  The  only  other  stream  of  any  impor- 
tance is  the  Sevier  river,  which  rises  near  the  southern  boundary 
of  Utah,  in  Fish  Lake,  runs  a  hundred  and  fifty  miles  to  the 
north,  then  bends  to  the  west  around  the  point  of  Iron  moun- 
tain, receiving  the  small  supplies  of  Salt  creek,  San  Pete, 
Chicken  creek,  and  Meadow  creek,  then  taking  a  southwest 
course,  is  lost  in  the  "  big  sink  "  of  Sevier  Lake  Desert.  West 
of  the  Iron  Mountain  range  are  a  score  of  "sinking  creeks," 
among  them  Pioneer,  Chalk,  Cove  and  Corn  creeks,  which  are 
fed  by  the  melting  snows  of  the  mountains,  furnish  scant  irriga- 
tion to  a  small  strip  of  land,  and  are  lost  in  the  Great  Desert 
of  southwestern  Utah. 

Below  the  "divide,"  the  only  streams  of  note  are  the  Rio 
Virgen  and  its  affluents,  which  belong  to  the  Colorado  system. 
Most  of  the  larger  streams  have  fish  in  their  upper  portions, 
among  which  mountain  trout  are  particularly  worthy  of  note; 
their  waters,  on  issuing  from  hills,  are  of  great  clearness  and 
purity,  and  it  is  only  where  small  streams  have  run  some 
distance  across  the  plain  that,  they  are,  in  local  phrase, 
"alkalied."  The  rivers  depend  for  their  existence  upon  the 
mountains,  and  without  those  gorges,  which  supply  melted 
snow  during  the  spring  and  summer,  there  would  be  no  run- 
ning1 water. 

Next  to  the  "sinking"  rivers  of  Utah,  the  thermal  and 
chemical  springs  constitute  a  remarkable  feature.  They  are 
found  in  almost  every  part  of  the  Territory,  but  principally 
along  the  road  from  Salt  Lake  City  northward.  All  aiong  the 
foothills  of  the  Promontory  range,  in  the  mountains  southwest 
of  Utah  Lake,  and  between  the  city  and  Bear  river,  are  foun- 
tains of  strong  brine,  discharging  in  many  instances  large  vol- 
umes of  water;  there  are  sulphurous  pools  at  the  southern 


364  POLYGAMY;   OR,   THE   MYSTERIES 

extremity  of  Salt  Lake  valley;  in  one  of  the  islands  in  the  lake 
are  springs  of  every  character,  and  in  places  along  the  Wasatch, 
hot,  cold  and  chalybeate  are  found  side  by  side. 

First  in  fame,  and  probably  in  medical  value,  are  the  Warm 
Springs  in  Salt  Lake  City.  Issuing  in  large  volume  from  the 
mountain  side,  the  water  is  conveyed  in  pipes  to  a  regular 
bathing  house  on  one  side,  and  to  a  plunge  pool  on  the  other, 
constituting,  in  my  opinion,  the  most  praiseworthy  of  Mormon 
institutions. 

The  following  analysis  is  by  Dr.  Gale,  assistant  of  Captain 
Stanbury,  in  1850.  One  hundred  parts  of  the  water,  whose 
specific  gravity  was  7.0112,  gave  solid  contents  of  1.068,087, 
divided  as  follows : 

Sulphuretted  hydrogen 0.038,182 

Carbonate  of  lime 0.075,000 

Carbonate  of  magnesia, 0.022,770 

Chloride  of  calcium 0.005,700 

Sulphate  of  soda. 0.064,835 

Chloride  of  sodium 0.861,600 


1.068,087 
The  usual  temperature  is  102°. 

Three  miles  north  of  the  city  the  Hot  Springs  boil  out  from 
a  rock  at  the  foot  of  the  mountain,  forming  a  hot  pool  two  or 
three  rods  in  circumference,  whence  the  branch  runs  westward 
and  forms  the  Hot  Spring  Lake.  Grazing  into  the  small  pool 
formed  by  the  spring,  the  eye  is  charmed  by  the  variety  of  fan- 
ciful growths,  the  confervae  on  the  rocky  bottom.  Every  con- 
ceivable form  of  vegetation  is  to  be  seen ;  leaves,  plants,  flowers 
and  fernlike  stems,  all  of  the  purest  emerald.  But  all  are  de- 
ceptions, mere  imitations  of  plants  formed  by  the  chemical 
material  on  the  points  of  stone.  The  temperature  of  this  spring 
is  128°;  its  specific  gravity,  1.0130,  and  one  hundred  parts 


AND  CRIMES   OF   MORMONISM.  .  365 

yield  solid  contents,  1.0602,  divided,  according  to  Dr.  Gale,  as 
follows : 

Chloride  of  sodium 0.8052 

Chloride  of  magnesia 0.0288 

Chloride  of  calcium 0.1096 

Sulphate  of  lime 0.0806 

Carbonate  of  lime 0.0180 

Silica..  .  0.0180 


1.0602 

Some  very  curious  mineral  springs  are  seventy  miles  north 
of  Salt  Lake  City,  near  the  north  crossing  of  Bear  river ;  they 
are  hot  and  cold,  impregnated  with  iron  or  with  sulphur,  some 
twenty  in  number,  and  all  rising  within  a  few  feet  of  each 
other.  Three  springs,  the  first  very  hot  and  sulphurous,  the 
second  moderately  warm  and  tasting  of  iron,  the  third  of  cold, 
pure  water,  rise  within  a  space  of  three  feet.  The  waters,  all 
flowing  into  the  same  channel,  do  not  mix  at  once,  but  run  ap- 
parently in  separate  strata  for  several  hundred  yards,  the  hot 
metallic  water  often  running  under  the  clear,  cold  water ;  nor 
is  it  until  the  sudden  bends  in  the  channel  have  thrown  the 
streams  violently  from  side  to  side,  that  they  mingle  in  a  fluid 
of  uniform  temperature.  South  of  Salt  Lake  City  are  found 
hot  pools  which  send  out  very  little  water,  and  in  other  places 
are  chalybeate  springs,  coating  the  earth  and  rocks  with  oxide 
of  iron.  There  are  also  chemical  springs  on  one  or  two  of  the 
islands  in  the  lake. 

The  great  salt  beds  of  the  Basin  are  in  Nevada,  but  in 
southern  Utah  is  a  peak  known  as  the  "  Salt  Mountain,"  from 
which  that  mineral  can  be  cut  in  solid  blocks,  in  its  pure  crys- 
tallized state. 

Of  the  mud  flats,  impregnated  with  soda,  and  the  alkali  de- 
posits, there  is  a  decided  surplus,  particularly  as  man  has  been 


866  POLYGAMY;    OR,    THE   MYSTERIES 

unable  to  devise  any  use  for  such  a  quantity  of  those  chemicals 
in  that  shape.  It  is  thought  the  presence  of  alkali  increases  the 
cold,  nor  does  it  seem  possible  to  eradicate  it  from  the  soil.  A 
slight  admixture  is  thought  to  be  beneficial  to  vegetation,  but 
wherever  there  is  enough  to  "  flower  out "  upon  the  surface,  it 
is  death  to  all  vegetation — even  the  hardy  sage  brush.  Salt- 
petre is  found,  though  rarely;  sulphur  is  rather  too  common; 
borax  is  found  in  moderate  amount,  and  the  native  alum  was 
analyzed  and  pronounced  good  by  Dr.  Gale.  From  his  report 
a  hundred  grammes  of  the  freshly  crystallized  salt  gave : 

Water 70.3 

Protoxide  of  manganese 08.9 

Alumina 04.0 

Sulphuric  acid 18.0 

The  entire  Basin  seems  a  vast  laboratory  of  nature,  where  all 
the  primitive  processes  have  been  carried  out  on  a  scale  so  ex- 
tensive as  to  make  man's  dominion,  at  first  sight,  seem  forever 
impossible. 

First  in  interest,  among  the  large  bodies  of  water,  is  the 
Great  Salt  Lake,  the  "Dead  Sea  of  America,"  which  lies  toward 
the  northwest  corner  of  Utah  Territory,  4,200  feet  above  sea- 
level,  and  twelve  miles,  at  the  nearest  point,  from  Salt  Lake 
City.  It  is  in  the  form  of  an  irregular  parallelogram,  of  which 
the  major  axis,  running  northwest  by  north,  is  seventy  miles  in 
length,  and  the  minor  axis  forty  miles;  the  different  projections, 
however,  greatly  increase  the  area,  which  is  laid  down  by  Cap- 
tain Stausbury  at  ninety  by  forty  miles,  in  round  numbers.  At 
a  very  early  day  this  remarkable  feature  was  well  known  to 
hunters  and  trappers,  and  in  1845  Colonel  Fremont,  then  on 
his  second  expedition,  made  a  sort  of  flying  survey,  which  was 
scientifically  completed  in  1849-50,  by  Captain  Howard  Stans- 
bury.  In  geologic  ages  the  lake  was  doubtless  an  inland  sea, 


AND   CRIMES   OF    MORMONISM.  367 

which  has  declined  to  its  present  limits ;  but  it  is  singular  that 
since  Stansbury's  survey  the  lake  surface  has  risen  at  least 
twelve  feet,  of  which  eight  feet  were  gained  in  the  years  1865— 
'66  and  '67,  though  in  the  notable  dry  year  of  1871  the  water 
went  down  two  feet  below  the  low  water-mark  of  1849.  The 
natural  result  of  the  rise  has  been  to  greatly  weaken  the  saline 
character  of  the  water.  There  is  a  widespread  misapprehension 
on  this  subject,  it  being  customary  to  state  that  "  three  gallons 
of  the  water  will  make  one  of  salt."  The  highest  estimate, 
however,  that  by  Fremont,  only  gave  twenty-four  per  cent,  of 
salt,  and  the  water  was  taken  from  the  northwest  corner,  the 
most  saline  portion  of  the  lake.  Dr.  Gale  found  one  hundred 
parts  of  the  water  to  contain  solid  contents  22.282,  distributed 
as  follows : 

Chloride  of  sodium  (common  salt) 20.196 

Sulphate  of  soda 1.834 

Chloride  of  magnesium 0.252 

Chloride  of  calcium a  trace 

22.282 

But  it  is  quite  evident  that  an  analysis  at  this  time  would 
show  much  less,  probably  not  more  than  18  per  cent,  of  solid 
matter,  perhaps  even  less  in  the  eastern  part,  and  not  over  12 
or  14  per  cent,  in  Bear  River  Bay,  the  least  saline  arm  of  the 
Lake.  Those  engaged  in  making  salt  on  Spring  Bay,  certainly 
the  most  saline,  state  that  it  requires  six  gallons  of  water  to 
make  one  of  salt.  Even  with  this  reduction,  it  has  no  superior 
but  the  Dead  Sea  water,  of  which  one  hundred  parts  give  solid 
contents  24.580,  while  the  Atlantic  ocean  only  averages  three 
and  a  half  per  cent,  of  its  weight,  or  about  half  an  ounce  to  the 
pound.  At  the  spring  floods  the  lake  often  rises  several  feet, 
and  retiring  in  the  summer,  leaves  vast  deposits  of  crystalized 


368  POLYGAMY;    OR,    THE    MYSTERIES 

salt.  In  places,  large  bayous  could  easily  be  filled  during  the 
summer  by  wind-mills  upon  the  lake  shore,  making  millions 
of  tons  of  salt  at  a  trifling  outlay.  Considering  the  area  of  the 
lake,  and  its  average  depth  ten  feet,  this  would  give  nearly  a 
thousand  billion  solid  feet  of  water,  or  at  the  rate  above  men- 
tioned, about  4,000,000,000  tons  of  salt! 

All  through  the  slopes  northwest  of  the  lake  and  down  the 
western  shore,  are  a  number  of  springs  running  pure  brine,  and 
east  of  the  Promontory  all  the  wells  dug  within  five  miles  of 
the  lake  have  yielded  salt  water  at  a  short  depth.  If  any  one 
doubts  the  statement  that  the  waters  of  the  lake  are  taken  up 
by  evaporation,  and  inclines  to  the  hypothesis  of  an  under- 
ground outlet,  he  can  easily  convince  himself  by  dipping  a 
basin  of  the  water  and  exposing  it  for  a  few  moments  to  the 
action  of  sun  and  wind ;  the  drying  air  and  the  direct  rays  of 
the  sun  will  evaporate  it  in  an  incredibly  short  space  of  time. 
Very  beautiful  effects  are  produced  by  taking  shrubs  of  dwarf 
oak  or  pine,  and  dashing  the  salt  water  over  them  at  intervals 
of  a  few  minutes,  allowing  the  salt  to  form  on  the  leaves  in 
thin  filmy  crystals. 

Whence  comes  this  salt?  The  mountain  rains  and  melting 
snows  carry  the  washings  of  the  salt  mountains  of  southern 
Utah  to  Utah  Lake,  where  they  are  imperceptible  to  the  taste, 
but  are  carried  down  by  the  Jordan ;  united  with  the  contribu- 
tions of  Bear  river  and  the  brine  springs  of  Promontory,  they 
are  subjected  to  the  condensing  process  of  nature  in  Great  Salt 
Lake.  If  there  were  an  underground  outlet,  a  few  mouths' 
discharge,  with  the  constant  reception  of  fresh  water,  would 
make  it  as  fresh  as  Utah  Lake.  Standing  on  the  shore  of 
Great  Salt  Lake,  one  may  observe  the  whole  process  of  nature 
in  rain  formation,  he  may  see  the  mist  from  the  lake  rise  to  a 
certain  height,  then  form  in  light  fleecy  clouds  which  sail  away 


AND   CRIMES   OF   MORMONIRM.  369 

to  the  mountains,  where  they  are  caught  by  projecting  peaks 
and  higher  currents  of  air,  and  forced  into  denser  masses,  and 
at  times  he  may  observe  them  pouring  upon  the  heights  the 
water  which  will  run  back  and  mingle  with  the  mass  at  his 
feet,  completing  thus  the  cycle  of  moisture  which  Solomon  re- 
marked in  the  exactly  similar  phenomena  of  the  Dead  Sea: 
"All  the  rivers  run  into  the  sea,  yet  the  sea  is  not  full ;  to  the 
place  whence  they  came,  thither  the  waters  return." 

The  country  bordering  Great  Salt  Lake  presents  almost 
every  possible  variety  of  soil,  but  little  or  no  change  in  climate. 

First  to  the  south  lies  Jordan  Valley,  which  is  generally 
meant  when  the  people  speak  of  Salt  Lake  Valley,  forty  miles 
long  by  about  twelve  in  breadth ;  much  of  the  eastern  half  is 
valuable  for  agriculture,  and  a  little  of  the  western  for  grazing. 
Proceeding  northward  a  strip  of  salt  marsh  and  low  pasture 
land,  near  the  lake,  is  bounded  on  the  east  by  a  strip  of  fertile 
land  from  one  to  five  miles  wide,  back  of  which  are  considera- 
ble pastures,  even  some  distance  up  the  mountain  side.  The 
same  is  true  of  Bear  River*  Valley  and  the  eastern  slope  of  the 
Promontory,  the  former  consisting  of  a  fertile  tract  from  ten  to 
fifteen  miles  in  width ;  but  crossing  Promontory  to  the  west  the 
change  is  sudden,  and  we  find  at  the  northwest  corner  of  the 
lake  a  valley  of  alkali  flats  and  salt-beds  of  indescribable 
barrenness.  It  is  comfortable  to  reflect  that  a  further  rise  of 
five  feet  in  the  lake  surface  would  bring  it  upon  this  desert, 
with  an  area  of  seventy  miles  square  to  cover,  and  requiring  at 
least  ten  times  as  much  water  for  a  rise  of  one  foot  as  it  did 
twenty  years  ago.  Along  that  shore  the  atmosphere  is  bluish 
and  hazy,  and  Captain  Stansbury  observes  that  "  it  is  a  labor 
to  use  telescopes  for  geodetic  purposes,  and  astronomical  obser- 
vations are  very  imperfect."  In  the  body  of  the  lake  are  sev- 
24 


370  POLYGAMY;   OR,    THE    MYSTERIES 

eral  islands  and  projecting  rocks,  designated  in  the  order  of 
their  size,  as  follows: 

1.  Antelope,  also  called  Church  or  Mormon  Island,  having 
been  appropriated  by  the  corporation  or  Church  of  Latter-day 
Saints,  for  their  stock,  a  sort  of  consecrated  cattle-corraZ  afor 
the  Lord  and  Brother  Brigham."     At  the  nearest,  point  it  is 
about  twenty  miles  northwest  of  Salt  Lake  City ;   for  many 
years  the  channel  between  it  and  the  eastern  shore  was  fordable, 
and  is  still  occasionally ;  it  contains  a  number  of  green  valleys, 
and  some  springs  of  pure  water.     In  the  shape  of  an  irregular 
diamond,  with  a  sharp  western  projection  from  the  northern 
point,  it  is  sixteen  miles  long  with  an  extreme  width  of  seven 
miles ;  it  contains  many  ridges  and  detached  peaks,  the  highest 
3,000  feet  above  the  Jake,  and  consequently  7,200  above  sea- 
level.     Near  the  northeastern  coast  is  a  rock  called  Egg  Island, 
and  on  the  most  eastern  cliff,  "they  say"  there  is  a  cave,  with 
remarkable  blue  grottos,  of  which  astonishing  stories  are  told ; 
and  there  or  thereabouts  is  said  to  be  the  unknown  burial- 
place  of  -Giacometta,  or  Jean  Baptiste,  an  Italian  Mormon  and 
grave-digger,  who  robbed  the  corpses  of  their  burial-clothes 
and  "disappeared"  by  order  of  Brigham  Young.     If  the  water 
of  the  lake  should  disappear,  this  island  would  appear  what  it 
really  is — merely  a   northward   continuation    of  the  Oquirrh 
mountains,  the  water  now  covering  a  low  gap  between  it  and 
the  rest  of  the  range  south  of  the  lake. 

2.  Stansbury  Island  is  the  second  largest  in  the  lake,  lying 
southwest  of  Antelope,  near  the  western  shore,  with  which  it  is 
connected  at  rare  intervals  of  low  water  by  a  sand-spit.     It  is 
about  half  the  size  of  Antelope  Island,  and  consists  of  a  single 
ridge,  twelve  miles  in  length,  and  rising  three  thousand  feet 
above  the  lake.     It  is  of  some  use  for  grazing  purposes,  and  is 
frequented  by  ducks,  geese,  plover,  gulls  and  pelicans. 


AND   CRIMES   OF    MORMONISM.  371 

3.  Carrington  Island,  so  named  from  the  Mormon  engineer, 
Albert  Carrington,  who  assisted  Captain  Stansbury  in  his  sur- 
vey, is  an  irregular  circle  with  a  single  central  peak ;  it  con- 
tains no  springs,  but  abounds  in  a  great  variety  of  plants  and 
flowers.     It  lies  a  little  northwest  of  Stansbury,  and  west  of 
the  north  point  of  Antelope  Island,  near  the  western  shore. 

4.  Fremont  Island  lies  between  Antelope  and  Promontory 
Point,  nearer  the   last,  and  just  below  the  point  where  .Bear 
River  Bay  opens  into  the  central  part  of  the  lake.     It  is  shaped 
somewhat  like  a  half  moon — abounds  in  plants,  particularly 
the  wild  onion,  but  is  destitute  of  wood  and  water.     Colonel 
Fremont  named  it  Disappointment  Island,  having  been  led  to 
believe  before  visiting  it,  that  it  abounded  in  "trees  and  shrub- 
bery, teeming  with  game  of  every  description;"  Stansbury  gave 
its  present  name,  and  it  is  sometimes  locally  known  as  "Castle 
Island/'  suggested  probably  by  the  turreted  formation  of  its 
principal  peak. 

Dolphin  Island,  Hat  Island,  and  one  or  two  others  are  mere 
points  of  barren  rock.  The  deepest  sounding  in  the  lake, 
forty  feet  at  average  level,  is  found  between  Stansbury  and 
Antelope  Islands.  The  latter  is  also  rich  in  minerals,  marble 
of  the  finest  quality  and  roofing  slate,  being  readily  obtained  in 
large  quantities.  Boats  could  run  directly  alongside  of  the 
quarries  and  load  with  the  greatest  convenience.  The  summer 
air  of  the  lake  is  light,  saline,  and  health-inspiring;  the 
scenery  unsurpassed,  and  abounding  in  views  of  memorable 
beauty.  The  romance  of  this  Mare  Mortuum  has  survived  the 
investigations  of  science,  and  from  a  region  of  misconception 
and  fable,  the  vicinity  of  the  Great  Salt  Lake  has  become  the 
Switzerland  of  America. 

Bear  Lake,  a  mere  tarn  among  the  mountains,  extending 
from  Cache  Valley  into  Idaho,  is  chiefly  notable  as  the  home 


372  POLYGAMY  ;    OR,    THE    MYSTERIES 


of  the  "  Bear  Lake  Monster,"  a  nondescript  with  a  body  half 
seal,  half  serpent,  and  a  head  somewhat  like  a  sea  lion,  which 
has  often  been  seen  and  described  by  Indians  and  Mormons, 
but  never  by  white  Christians.  It  has  never  been  properly 
classified  or  named,  as  it  is  invisible  when  scientific  observers 
are  at  hand,  but  from  the  descriptions  current  among  the 
latter-day  philosophers,  I  judge  it  to  be  a  relic  of  that  extinct 
species  generally  denominated  the  "  Ginasticutis." 

The  sweetwater  reservoir,  Utah  Lake,  is  fed  by  large  streams 
from  the  western  slopes  of  the  Uintah  range,  its  circumference, 
exclusive  of  offsets,  being  estimated  at  eighty  miles.  This 
singular  analogue  of  the  Sea  of  Galilee  receives  the  waters  of 
the  Provo  and  many  smaller  streams.  Sevier,  Preuss,  Nicollet, 
and  Little  Salt  Lake  in  like  manner  receive  and  furnish 
"sinks"  for  the  waters  from  the  Iron  Mountain  range,  and 
the  southern  branch  of  the  Wasateh,  none  of  these  lakes  com- 
municating with  any  other,  but  each  dependent  on  a  distinct 
water  system.  Only  the  larger  streams  form  lakes,  the  smaller 
are  either  evaporated  or  sink  in  ponds  and  puddles  of  black 
mire;  the  waters  in  places  reappear  or  pass  underground  to 
feed  the  larger  lakes. 

The  deserts  of  Utah  consist  of  alkali  flats,  barren  sand,  or 
red  earth,  resulting,  in  some  cases,  from  mere  want  of  water, 
and  in  others  from  sand  and  destructive  minerals.  Much  land 
that  looks  utterly  barren  becomes  fertile  after  thorough  and 
long  continued  watering.  It  is  evident,  also,  that  a  change  has 
been  going  on  for  many  years,  reclaiming  large  tracts  in  the 
vicinity  of  the  mountains.  Tracts  once  entirely  barren,  after 
receiving  the  wash  of  higher  lands,  present  a  scant  growth  of 
grease-wood,  which  is  succeeded  in  time  by  white  sage-brush, 
and  that  in  turn  by  the  ranker  growth  of  blue  sage-brush,  each 
step  marking  an  increase  of  fertility  in  the  soil.  Large  tracts 


AND    CRIMES   OF   MOBMONTSM.  373 

are  found  entirely  barren  of  vegetation,  others  that  have  ad- 
vanced to  the  grease-wood  stage,  still  others  to  the  growth  of 
sage-brush.  In  many  places  the  transition  is  evident,  and 
from  the  testimony  of  early  explorers,  certain  tracts  have  com- 
pleted the  entire  circuit  of  increasing  fertility  within  the 
memory  of  man. 

Utah  is  in  the  parallel  of  the  Mediterranean,  but  the  eleva- 
tion renders  it  more  bleak,  though  not  liable  to  sudden  vicissi- 
tudes of  temperature ;  the  changes  in  any  one  winter  are  quite 
moderate,  but  the  difference  between  successive  winters  is  often 
much  greater  than  in  any  other  part  of  the  United  States. 
Cattle  have  been  wintered  in  Cache  Valley,  Ogden  Hole,  and 
other  sections,  entirely  upon  the  range  and  without  shelter ;  on 
the  other  hand,  there  have  been  winters  in  which  all  the  settle- 
ments were  isolated,  when  snow  fell  almost  every  day,  with  a 
high  westerly  wind,  sometimes  so  violent  that  spray  was  carried 
from  the  lake  into  the  city. 

Thirty  years  ago  rain  very  seldom  fell  between  May  and 
October;  in  1860  it  continued  quite  showery,  even  to  the  first 
of  July,  and,  at  present,  some  rain  may  be  counted  on  with 
certainty  every  month  in  the  season.  The  change  is  attributed 
by  one  class  of  philosophers  to  a  gradual  change  of  the  rain 
zones ;  by  the  Mormons  to  their  prayers  and  piety,  and  the 
favor  of  heaven,  but  is  probably  due  to  cultivation  and 
planting.  The  same  phenomenon  is  observed  in  western 
Nebraska  and  Kansas,  and  in  upper  Egypt.  The  Indians  say, 
"the  pale  face  brings  his  rain  with  him."  The  summer,  as 
marked  by  the  thermometer,  is  hot,  but  the  great  elevation,  the 
lightness  and  dryness  of  the  air,  the  cool  winds  from  the 
canons,  and  the  complete  absence  of  malaria,  render  it  delight- 
ful and  wholesome.  At  the  north  end  of  the  lake  they  have 
the  sea-breeze,  the  mountain  air,  and  the  refreshing  zephyrs 


374  POLYGAMY. 

from  the  plains.  During  the  summer  the  thermometer  usually 
rises  eight  or  ten  degrees  from  sun-rise  till  noon  ;  the  greatest 
mid-day  heat  is  not  oppressive,  and  the  mornings  and  evenings, 
cooled  by  the  mountain  airs,  are  deliciously  soft  and  pure. 

The  most  disagreeable  feature  of  this  section  is  the  dust- 
storms  and  thunder  storms,  which,  during  the  warm  season, 
though  not  frequent,  are  severe.  Cultivation  and  irrigation 
giving  greater  facilities  for  evaporation,  the  process  of  nature 
in  the  cycle  of  moisture  is  quickened,  the  particles  of  water 
make  the  circuit  oflener,  and  more  frequent  showers  are  the 
result.  It  is  evident  this  climate  of  cool,  dry  air  in  the  winter, 
moderate  dryness  and  extreme  tenuity  in  .the  summer,  and 
stimulating  rarity  at  all  seasons,  is  suited  to  all  healthy  and 
most  sickly  constitutions.  Paralysis  is  rare,  consumption  al- 
most unknown  —  the  climate  lacks  that  humidity  which 
develops  the  predisposition — asthma  and  phthisis  meet  with 
immediate  relief,  and  from  my  personal  experience,  it  is  evident 
the  air  tends  to  expand,  strengthen,  and  give  tonic  force  to  the 
lungs.  But  rheumatism  and  neuralgia  are  by  no  means  un- 
common; as  in  other  bracing  climates,  they  affect  the  poor,  and 
those  from  any  cause,  insufficiently  fed,  housed,  or  ciothed 
during  the  winter.  For  all  who  would  avoid  humidity,  either 
in  soil  or  air;  who  seek  relief  from  pulmonary  diseases  or 
dyspepsia,  the  climate  is  unsurpassed;  but  for  inflammatory 
diseases  it  seems  unfavorable ;  and  for  eruptive  troubles, 
such  as  eczema,  erysipelas,  etc.,  it  is  certainly  very  bad.  The 
tendency  seems  to  be  to  draw  the  blood  to  the  surface ;  and  the 
natural  complexion  of  an  open-air  man  is  very  florid.  So  it 
helps  a  man  of  defective  circulation,  and  injures  one  whose 
blood  already  tends  to  inflammation. 

At  least  one-half  of  the  Great  Basin  is  a  complete  desert ; 
much  of  the  rest  is  of  slight  value  for  timber  or  grass,  and 


375 


•°>70  POLYGAMY  ;   OK,   THE   MYSTERIES 

perhaps  one-tenth  could  be  made  fertile  by  an  abundant  water 
supply.  The  most  marked  feature  of  the  interior  plains  is  the 
scarcity  of  timber;  for,  with  the  exception  of  a  few  scant 
willows  along  two  or  three  of  the  streams,  the  whole  valley  of 
Salt  Lake  was  originally  as  bare  of  trees  as  if  blasted  by  the 
breath  of  a  volcano.  The  nearest  timber  to  the  city  was  up 
City  Creek  Canon — "granted"  by  the  first  Legislature  to 
Brigham  Young,  who  took  every  third  load  brought  out  as 
toll,  and  complained  of  "persecution"  when  government  offi- 
cials objected.  Before  1870  most  of  the  city's  fuel  had  to  be 
brought  twenty-five  miles,  and  sold  at  from  twelve  to  twenty 
dollars  per  cord.  This  evil  has  been  greatly  increased  by  their 
stripping  the  heights  more  bare  every  year,  and  many  conjec- 
ture that  this  prevents  the  former  heavy  accumulations  of  snow, 
which,  in  turn,  blows  into  the  valley  worse  each  winter,  and 
may  in  time  even  lessen  the  source  of  the  streams,  which  are 
chiefly  supplied  by  the  melting  snow. 

Planting  trees,  except  in  orchards  or  along  the  streets,  has 
been  entirely  neglected.  Unlike  the  farmers  of  Iowa  and 
Nebraska,  who  purpose  to  grow  their  own  fire-wood,  there  is 
not,  to  my  knowledge,  an  artificial  grove  in  Utah.  The  trees, 
like  most  else,  would  require  some  irrigation.  As  stated  the 
rain  fall  has  increased  ;  but  irrigation  is  still  an  enormous  labor, 
and  twenty  acres  a  big  farm  for  one  family  to  cultivate.  Under 
the  Mormon  system  each  settlement  is  practically  a  sort  of 
socialist  community  as  to  its  water  supply.  Enough  of  fam- 
ilies must  make  a  settlement  together  in  sonic  convenient  val- 
ley, to  construct  a  dam  further  up  the  cafion,  from  which 
reservoir  a  main  canal  is  carried  through  the  settlement,  and 
from  this  side  canals  and  ditches  convey  the  water  among  the 
farms,  and  thence  into  fields,  and  by  tiny  rivulets  between  the 
rows  of  vegetation. 


AND   CRIMES   OF   MORMONISM.  377 

The  various  crops  are  watered  from  one  to  three  times  per 
week,  according  to  their  nature,  during  the  dry  season.  The 
greatest  labor  is  in  establishing  a  settlement,  and  opening  these 
sources  of  public  supply,  but  thereafter,  the  whole  settlement 
turns  out  each  spring,  at  the  call  of  the  Water-Marshal,  and  a 
few  days7  work  gets  all  in  order.  Hence  the  settlement  must 
move  as  a  unit  in  this  case,  and  every  man  claims  a  supply  of 
water  according  to  the  money  or  labor  contributed  to  the  first 
construction. 

For  many  years,  in  certain  settlements,  the  Water-Marshal 
turned  the  supply  to  different  districts  at  different  hours,  and 
the  proprietors  in  each  district  further  divided  the  time  when 
each  might  take  water ;  day  and  night,  during  the  dry  season, 
being  devoted  to  the  work.  In  some  settlements,  and  in  the 
city,  fines  as  high  as  sixty  dollars  were  imposed  for  "  stealing 
water,"  that  is,  for  turning  it  on  one's  fields  out  of  the  pre- 
scribed time.  But  with  the  increase  of  rain  and  heavy  dews 
which  now  water  "  the  garden  of  the  Lord  and  modern  Zion," 
this  aquatic  penuriousness  has  ceased  to  be  necessary,  and  there 
are  but  few  if  any  localities  where  one  may  not  take  water  at 
any  hour.  Herein  also  is  an  important  politico-religious 
feature  of  the  system ;  no  Gentile  can  start  in  with  a  new 
settlement,  formed  as  it  is  by  a  "  call  "  from  the  Church  author- 
ities, and  he  cannot  of  course  go  it  alone.  Gentiles  could  only 
settle  by  entire  neighborhoods  together,  or  in  some  place  buy 
out  a  Saint  whose  water-rights  are  already  established,  and  run 
with  the  land.  For  these  and  other  reasons,  one  rarely  meets 
with  a  Gentile  outside  of  the  towns. 

Alkali  is  another  enemy  of  the  Utah  farmer.  A  moderate 
infusion  is  thought  to  be  an  advantage,  but  in  many  places  it  is 
so  thick  as  to  "  flower  out "  like  a  heavy  frost  or  light  snow  on 
the  surface ;  there  it  is  fatal  to  most  crops,  and  many  think  it 


378  POLYGAMY. 

will  not  yield  to  the  longest  continued  cultivation.  Some  crops 
will  flourish,  where  it  is  abundant,  others  are  ruined  by  the 
slightest  sprinkle.  The  common  pie-plant  entirely  loses  its 
acidity,  and  the  sorghum  cane  is  completely  "alkalied."  But 
the  principle  of  compensation  in  nature  applies  even  here,  and 
the  Utah  farmer  has  some  marked  advantages.  There  are 
neither  doughts  nor  freshets — both  considerable  items  to  an 
Illinois  farmer;  the  latter  are  unknown,  and  the  former  of  no 
consequence  in  the  practice  of  irrigation. 

Wheat  for  many  seasons  has  required  but  one  or  two  water- 
ings, and  the  average  yield,  according  to  Mormon  statistics,  is 
near  twenty  bushels  per  acre.  With  flour  at  eighteen  dollars  per 
barrel,  and  in  old  times  it  was  sometimes  above  that,  this  would 
pay  well  for  irrigation.  Barley  and  potatoes  yield  very  heavily, 
and  have  heretofore  sold  at  enormous  prices.  But  there  has 
been  a  great  decline  in  prices.  The  land  produces  all  the 
small  grains,  especially  wheat,  oats  and  barley,  in  great  abund- 
ance; a  little  Indian  corn  is  raised,  but  the  climate  is  not  fav- 
orable; nearly  all  the  fruits  and  vegetables  of  the  temperate  zone, 
pumpkins,  beets  and  carrots — in  Gentile  slang,  "  Mormon  cur- 
rency"— in  great  size  and  plenty.  Peaches  of  fine  flavor,  and 
in  great  quantity,  are  grown  in  almost  every  valley,  Salt  Lake 
valley  and  the  lower  tracts  adjacent  being  most  favorable. 
But  I  do  not  fully  appreciate  the  apples  of  Salt  Lake ;  they 
seem  insipid,  stunted  in  some  places  and  overgrown  in  others/. 
The  lower  part  of  Bear  River  valley  and  the  slopes  leading 
thereto,  have  all  the  natui-al  indications  for  one  of  the  finest 
fruit  countries  in  the  world,  the  easy  changes  of  the  winter  and 
spring  being  peculiarly  favorable. 

Beets  and  onions  grow  to  an  unusual  size,  which  suggested, 
in  1853,  the  idea  of  fnaking  beet  sugar.  The  "inspired 
priesthood,"  headed  by  "  Brother  Brigham,"  entered  into  the 


SCENE  IN  SOTJTHBBN   UTAH, 


'379; 


380  POLYGAMY  ;    OR,    THE    MYSTERIES 

matter  with  zeal ;  one  hundred  thousand  dollars  were  expended 
upon  the  building  and  machinery,  but  the  "  Lord  "  must  have 
spoken  to  the  Prophet  with  an  uncertain  voice,  for  the  experi- 
ment failed  utterly:  on  account  of  the  alkali,  the  Mormons 
say;  for  want  of  good  management,  say  the  perverse  Gentiles, 
who  sometimes  add  that  the  Saints  made  a  fiery  article  of 
"Valley  Tan"  whiskey  out  of  the  useless  material.  But 
other  sweets  abound ;  there  is  great  profit  in  sorghum,  and  one 
farmer  near  Kaysville  reports  that  one  year  he  made  one  hun- 
dred and  five  gallons  from  one-third  of  an  acre,  and  two  hun- 
dred gallons  per  acre  throughout  his  field.  At  the  low  price 
of  half  a  dollar  per  gallon,  this  will  pay  for  irrigation.  But 
cane  farmers  must  avoid  the  alkali  lands.  Of  farm  improve- 
ments there  is  little  to  be  said.  The  impression  prevails  quite 
generally  that  the  Mormons  are  remarkably  industrious.  I 
have  impartially  endeavored  to  find  the  evidence,  but,  with  due 
regard  for  others'  opinions,  I  fail  to  see  it.  Like  many  others 
they  will  work  rather  than  starve;  but  that  Utah  has  fewer 
improvements  in  proportion  to  population  than  any  other  part 
of  the  United  States,  except  possibly  New  Mexico,  is  as  elf-evi- 
dent fact.  And  even  in  Salt  Lake  City  the  finest  buildings 
are  largely  owned  by  Gentiles. 

If  there  is  a  single  farm-house  between  Salt  Lake  City  and 
Bear  river,  which  shows  an  advanced  idea  of  architecture,  I  do 
not  remember  it.  If  there  is  any  particular  development  of 
taste,  outside  a  few  of  the  cities,  any  adornment  which  shows 
an  aspiration  for  the  higher  and  more  beautiful,  or  any  im- 
provements indicating  comprehensive  grasp  and  energy  of 
thought,  I  have  missed  them  in  my  travels.  The  Mormon 
converts  are  drawn  from  the  most  industrious  races  of  Europe; 
it  was  impossible  for  even  Mormonism  to  entirely  spoil  them, 
and  they  have  done  nearly  as  well,  perhaps,  as  any  other  people 


AND   CRIMES   OF   MORMONISM.  381 

would  have  done  under  the  same  circumstances.  Compared 
with  the  same  races  in  the  Western  States,  the  Swedes,  Nor- 
wegians, Danes  and  English,  of  Iowa  or  Minnesota,  the  latter 
have  made  as  much  progress  in  five  years  after  settlement  as 
the  Mormons  in  ten  or  twenty.  But  oh  the  credit  side  of  the 
estimate  for  the  latter,  we  must  set  down  the  fact  of  their  great 
distance  from  civilization,  the  natural  barrenness  of  much  of 
their  country,  the  grasshoppers,  crickets,  wild  beasts  and  In- 
dians with  which  they  had  to  contend;  the  spiritual  despotism 
under  which  they  labor;  their  poverty  and  their  ignorance  of 
this  mode  of  farming. 

But  the  true  wealth  of  the  Territory  is  in  grazing  and  min- 
ing. The  range  is  practically  unlimited  and  the  mountain 
bunch-grass  is  the  best  in  the  world  for  cattle.  This  valuable 
and  rather  anomalous  provision  of  nature  seems  to  be  indige- 
nous to  the  interior  plains  of  the  Rocky  mountains.  It  is  first 
found,  I  believe,  on  the  western  slope  of  the  Black  Hills,  and 
extends  to  the  eastern  slope  of  the  Sierra  Nevadas.  West  of 
that  boundary  it  gives  place  to  other  seeded  grasses  of  the  Pa- 
cific slope,  and  to  the  wild  oats  of  California,  which  are  sup- 
posed to  have  been  introduced  by  the  Spaniards.  Millions  of 
acres  are  rendered  valuable  by  the  presence  of  bunch -grass, 
which,  without  it,  could  hardly  be  traversed  by  cattle.  As  the 
name  indicates  it  grows  in  clumps,  and  to  an  eastern  eye  would 
appear  as  if  it  sought  the  most  barren  spots,  flourishing  even 
upon  slopes  of  sandy  and  stony  hills.  Like  winter  wheat  it  re- 
mains green  and  juicy  under  the  snow;  it  usually  commences 
growing  in  February  or  March,  and  continues  till  May  or 
June,  when  it  dries  up  and  appears  to  die,  but  in  the  form  of  a 
light  straw  contains  abundant  nutriment.  In  places,  during 
autumn  and  after  shedding  the  seed,  it  puts  forth  a  green  shoot, 
apparently  within  the  old  withered  stalk ;  with  the  advance  of 


382  POLYGAMY. 

Bummer  the  best  is  found  higher  up  the  mountains,  and  it  thus 
furnishes  food  the  year  round. 

It  yields  a  small  pyriform  seed,  which  is  greedily  devoured 
by  cattle,  and  has  remarkable  fattening  properties,  giving  an 
excellent  flavor  to  the  beef.  It  is  often  a  subject  of  remark, 
how  little  food  will  fatten  cattle  upon  the  elevated  prairies,  and 
interior  plateaus  of  the  West ;  the  exceeding  purity,  dryness  and 
rarity  of  the  air,  by  perfecting  the  processes  of  digestion  and  as- 
similation, accounts  for  this.  The  finest,  juciest,  tenderest 
steaks  of  home  growth,  appear  daily  upon  the  tables  of  the 
Utah  publicans,  and  there  is  scarcely  a  limit  to  the  possible  sup- 
ply. By  greater  improvement  in  irrigation,  and  by  the  increase 
of  rain,  Utah  will  in  time  have  great  agricultural  wealth,  but 
stock-raising  will  be  a  paying  interest. 

Facilities  for  grazing  are  very  extensive,  the  valleys  supply 
plentiful  pasturage  in  winter,  and  as  spring  advances  and  the 
snow  line  recedes  up  the  hills,  cattle  will  find  fresh  pastures. 
In  the  valleys  of  Green,  Grand  and  Colorado  rivers,  are  many 
thousand  square  miles  of  the  finest  country  in  the  world  for 
wool-growing;  on  all  the  mountain  slopes  west  of  Bear  river 
grass  grows  luxuriantly,  and  the  higher  portions  of  Sevier 
Valley  contain  millions  of  acres  of  grazing  land,  the  natural 
home  of  the  Merino  sheep  and  Cashmere  goat ;  the  climate  and 
elevation  are  exactly  suitable  for  the  production  of  the  finest 
wools;  all  the  facilities  for  manufacturing  exist  along  the  lower 
course  of  the  mountain  streams,  and  the  day  will  come  when  the 
finest  of  shawls  and  other  fabrics  will  be  produced  in  Utah,  ri- 
valling the  most  famous  productions  from  the  highlands  of  Per- 
sia and  Hindoostan. 

Of  "  fur,  fin  and  feather,"  the  Great  Basin  is  rather  deficient, 
in  an  economical  view.  There  are  minks,  ermines,  American 
badgers,  wolverines,  woodchucks,  musk-rats,  beavers  and  otters, 


(383) 


384 

the  last  two  rare  in  other  parts,  but  still  found  in  such  plenty 
on  the  upper  tributaries  of  Bear  river,  as  to  make  trapping 
profitable.  The  principal  camivora  are  the  cougar,  cat-o-moun- 
tain,  large  and  small  wolf,  and  a  variety  of  foxes.  But  in  the 
wilder  sections,  especially  the  wooded  highlands  east  of  the 
Wasatch,  the  cinnamon  bear  and  mountain  lion  are  often  found. 
All  that  part  of  the  Territory  is  so  mountainous  that  it  is  given 
up  to  the  Utes ;  but  there  are  a  few  white  settlers.  A  young 
lady,  whose  father  set  up  a  ranche  on  the  headwaters  of  the 
Provo,  told  me  that  they  occasionally  had  a  friendly  call  from 
the  wild  beasts,  when  times  were  hard  with  the  brutes;  but 
both  these  creatures  are  slow  to  attack  human  beings.  The  cin- 
namon bear  is  no  such  savage  animal  as  the  grizzly,  or  even  the 
black  bear;  and  the  mountain  lion  seldom  or  never  attacks 
unless  wounded  and  infuriated. 

Among  the  ruminants  of  eastern  Utah  are  the  antelope,  deer, 
elk,  and  Rocky  Mountain  sheep.  The  buffalo  was  seldom 
found  west  of  Laramie  plains,  not  at  all  in  the  Great  Basin, 
though  the  Indians  have  a  tradition  that  they  were  once  very 
numerous  even  to  the  Sierra  Nevadas,  and  old  hunters  and 
travellers  speak  of  finding  traces  of  their  former  existence 
there.  The  Shoshonees  give  the  following  account  of  their  ban- 
ishment :  When  the  buffaloes  herded  in  great  numbers  in  these 
valleys,  the  crickets  were  less  in  number  than  now,  but  being 
the  weakest  of  all  the  animals,  they  had  the  ear  of  the  Great 
Spirit  when  oppressed.  The  buffaloes,  in  crowding  to  the  rivers 
to  drink,  trampled  upon  the  crickets  and  did  not  heed  their 
cries,  upon  which  the  latter  complained  to  the  Great  Spirit,  who 
by  a  sweeping  decree  changed  all  the  buffaloes  to  a  small  race 
of  crickets,  leaving  nothing  of  the  buffalo  but  the  milt !  It  is  a 
singular  fact  that  the  crickets  found  in  the  basin  contain  a 
"  milt "  or  spleen,  exactly  similar  in  shape  to  that  of  the  bovine 
genus. 


AND   CRIMES   OF    MORMONISM.  385 

Of  game  birds  there  are  several  varieties :  quail  or  partridges ; 
two  varieties  of  grouse,  the  most  common  called  the  sage-hen ; 
the  mallard  duck  is  found  in  great  plenty  on  the  lower  part  of 
Bear  river  and  Jordan,  and  is  particularly  abundant  on  the 
Sevier;  while  brant,  curlew,  plover  and  wild  geese  are  much 
more  numerous  than  the  appearance  of  the  country  would  indi- 
cate. Of  useless  animals  and  reptiles  there  are  quite  enough 
to  give  variety  to  animated  nature.  That  purely  western 
American  phenomenon,  half  toad,  half  lizard,  locally  known  as 
the  "horned  toad"  or  "sandy  toad,"  scientifically  ranked 
Phrynosoma,  is  found  on  all  the  high,  dry  plains.  Its  scaly 
body  and  inability  to  jump  prevents  its  ranking  strictly  among 
"  batrachians."  It  is  found  on  the  highest  and  driest  ridges,  is 
calloused  on  the  belly  like  an  alligator,  its  back  is  thickly 
studded  with  horny  points  about  a  quarter  of  an  inch  in  length, 
it  has  legs  like  a  common  toad,  but  runs  swiftly  like  a  lizard. 

Of  serpents,  there  are  rattlesnakes,  water  snakes  and  swamp 
adders,  and  a  few  others,  all  very  rare.  The  fishes  are  perch, 
pike,  bass,  chub,  mountain  trout,  and  a  species  of  salmon  trout, 
of  which  thirty-pound  specimens  have  been  caught.  There  are 
very  few  molluscs,  periwinkles  or  snails ;  the  climate  is  too  dry. 
Oysters  have  been  planted  at  the  mouths  of  the  streams  empty- 
ing into  the  Salt  Lake;  but  when  the  wind  drove  the  lake 
water  against  the  current  of  the  stream,  the  strong  brine  killed 
the  oysters.  Jordan  was  once  stocked  with  eels  which  seemed 
to  flourish  well  for  a  while,  but  when  a  little  rise  came,  the 
creatures,  lacking  the  instincts  necessary  for  the  locality,  floated 
down  into  the  lake  and  were  pickled  !  Months  afterwards  one 
was  picked  up  on  the  eastern  shore  by  a  Mormon,  who  cooked 
and  ate  it,  finding  it  very  palatable. 

Utah,  in  regard  to  insect  life,  is  subject  to  great  extremes. 

On  entering  the  Territory  from  the  east,  the  visitor's  first  im- 
25 


386 

pression  would  oe  that  both  animal  and  insect  life  were  rare. 
On  the  road  from  Green  river  to  Salt  Lake  City,  particularly 
in  the  early  part  of  the  season,  there  are  few  stock  flies,  few 
scavengers  and  few  large  birds;  troublesome  insects  are  rare, 
even  in  the  valleys,  and  unknown  on  the  upland  desert;  but  in 
other  localities  there  is  a  surplus,  and  after  longer  residence  one 
finds  enough  of  them  to  be  troublesome.  In  Salt  Lake  City 
the  flies  are  probably  worse,  both  as  to  number  and  peculiari- 
ties, than  in  any  otber  city  in  America,  but  fortunately  their 
time  is  very  short.  During  the  spring  and  early  summer  they 
are  rarely  seen;  in  August  they  begin  to  multiply,  "coming  in 
with  the  emigration/7  according  to  local  phrase,  meaning  the 
Mormon  emigrants,  who  formerly  completed  the  journey  across 
the  plains  by  the  latter  part  of  July. 

From  the  middle  of  August  till  cool  weather  they  are  per- 
fectly fearful,  certainly  much  worse  than  they  need  be  if  proper 
cleanliness  were  practised :  large,  flat-headejd,  light-winged  and 
awkward,  they  light  and  crawl  over  the  person  in  the  most 
annoying  manner,  not  yielding,  like  "Gentile  flies/'  to  a  light 
brush  or  switch,  but  requiring  literally  to  be  swept  off.  No 
other  part  of  the  Territory  I  have  visited  is  half  so  bad  in  this 
respect  as  Salt  Lake  City,  and  the  southern  valleys  seem  pecu- 
liarly free  from  this  pest.  Fleas  are,  in  western  phrase, 
"tolerable  bad,"  but  bed-bugs  are  intolerable;  both  in  numbers, 
and  voracity  those  of  Utah  beat  the  world,  particularly  in  the 
country  towns,  and  among  the  poorer  classes  of  foreign-born 
Mormons.  In  certain  settlements  their  ravage  is  incredible, 
and  Mormon  bed-bugs  seem  as  much  worse  than  others  as  their 
human  companions.  Like  the  latter,  too,  they  seem  to  regard 
the  Gentile  as  fair  prey. 

Of  insects  destructive  to  vegetation  the  cricket  was  once  very 
troublesome,  but  ceased  to  be  so  years  ago,  though  the  grass- 


AND   CRIMES   OF   MORMONISM.  387 

hopper  still  makes  occasional  visits,  as  in  all  the  Territories. 
The  question  has  been  raised  in  Utah,  whether  this  insect, 
locally  known  as  grasshopper,  is  not  really  a  locust — perhaps 
the  locust  mentioned  in  Scripture.  But  an  examination  shows 
it  to  be  congeneric  with  the  insect  scientifically  designated  the 
OEDIPODA  MIGRATORIA,  which  is  certainly  of  the  grasshopper 
species,  though  known  in  the  East  by  the  English  name  of 
"  migratory  .locust."  The  grasshopper  of  Utah  is  not  so  long 
and  thin,  light-bodied  and  "clipper  built"  as  that  of  Nebraska 
and  Kansas,  but  fully  as  destructive  to  vegetation ;  though  of 
late  years  its  ravages  have  been  confined  to  certain  limited 
localities. 

The  original  inhabitants  of  Utah  merit  a  brief  notice.  All 
the  old  accounts  represent  the  Indians  of  the  Great  Basin  as 
the  lowest  and  most  degraded  of  their  race,  and  one  is  surprised 
in  the  chronicles  of  only  forty  years  ago  to  read  of  tribes,  or 
rather  bands  and  parts  of  tribes,  now  totally  extinct.  The 
Club-men,  a  race  of  savage  and  filthy  cannibals,  were  once  quite 
numerous  in  all  the  central  and  western  valleys,  but  are  now 
entirely  extinct ;  and  many  of  the  races  mentioned,  who  lived 
near  the  Shoshonees  thirty-five  years  ago,  are  no  longer  to 
be  found.  From  these  and  other  facts,  it  is  very  probable  that 
all  the  Indians  known  as  "diggers"  were  mere  outcasts  from 
other  tribes,  or  the  remnants  of  more  noble  tribes  conquered  in 
war,  which  had  been  forced  into  the  Basin  as  a  place  of  refuge. 
Their  tribal  organization  broken  up;  their  former  hunting- 
grounds  forbidden  them  ;  and  themselves  compelled  to  subsist 
only  on  the  meanest  and  least  nourishing  fare,  they  degenerated 
rapidly  in  morale  and  physique,  at  the  same  time  that  they  de- 
creased in  number. 

They  subsisted  chiefly  upon  roots  dug  from  the  ground,  the 
seeds  of  various  plants  indigenous  to  the  soil,  ground  into  a 


388  POLYGAMY. 

kind  of  flour  between  flat  stones ;  and  upon  lizards,  crickets, 
and  fish  at  some  seasons  of  the  year.  Thus  lacking  the  food 
which  furnishes  proper  stimulus  to  the  brain  and  muscles,  each 
succeeding  generation  sank  lower  in  the  scale  of  humanity;  the 
generative  powers  declined  under  a  regimen  of  exposure  and 
scant  nourishment ;  few  children  were  born  and  fewer  reared  to 
maturity,  and  the  kindness  of  nature's  law  forbade  increase 
where  life  promised  naught  but  exposure  and  misery.  Of  such 
races  the  numerical  decline  must  have  been  steady  and  rapid, 
and  their  numbers  only  maintained  by  the  successive  additions 
from  the  superior  races  north  and  east.  A  little  above  these, 
in  the  scale  of  humanity,  are  the  Utes  or  Utahs,  who  occupy 
Eastern  Utah  and  Western  Colorado  even  to  Denver  and  the 
vicinity  of  the  Arapahoes,  with  whom  they  are  almost  continu- 
ally at  war.  The  word  Ute  or  Utah  signifies,  in  their  lan- 
guage, "man,"  "dweller,"  or  "resident,"  and  by  the  additions 
of  other  syllables,  we  have  the  three  grand  divisions  of  that 
race:  Pi-Utes,  Gosha-Utes,  Pah-Utes,  which  may  be  freely 
translated  "mountaineers,"  "valley  men,"  and  "dwellers  by 
the  water,"  those  prefixes  respectively  indicating  "mountain," 
"valley,"  and  "water."  Of  all  these  the  bravest  are  the  moun- 
tain Utes,  among  whom  we  might  include  the  Uintahs;  but 
the  Indians  of  the  lower  countries  are  rather  cowardly,  and 
dangerous  only  by  theft  or  treachery.  Far  superior  to  any  of 
these  are  the  Shoshonees  or  Snakes,  found  all  along  the  north- 
ern border  of  Utah,  and  extending  thence  northeast  to  the 
Bannocks  and  westward  into  Idaho  and  Nevada. 

They  have  a  complete  tribal  organization,  and  something 
like  government  and  council  among  themselves;  own  horses 
and  cattle,  and  display  some  ingenuity  in  their  dwellings,  and 
in  the  construction  of  fish-weirs  and  traps  of  willow  bushes. 
They  feel  also  something  like  pride  of  race,  and  to  call  a  Sho- 


(389) 


390  POLYGAMY;    OR,    THE    MYSTERIES 

shonee  a  "digger,"  is  more  of  an  insult  than  to  stigmatize  a 
very  light  mulatto  as  a  "nigger." 

The  origin  of  the  Indians  has  been  a  subject  of  frequent  in- 
quiry among  American  antiquarians.  Some  sixty  years  ago, 
an  idea  was  broached,  and  for  a  while  prevailed  quite  exten- 
sively, that  they  were  the  descendants  of  the  "lost  tribes"  of 
ancient  Israel,  and  that  veracious  chronicle,  the  "Book  of  Mor- 
mon," has  traced  their  descent  from  a  Jewish  family,  who  left 
Jerusalem  six  hundred  years  before  Christ.  But  if  we  are  to 
draw  our  arguments  from  any  recognized  human  source,  from 
language,  features,  customs,  habits  or  traditions,  there  are  no 
two  races  on  earth  of  whose  kinship  there  is  so  little  proof. 

After  the  Indians,  in  the  order  of  time,  came  the  Mormons. 
They  were  the  first  white  residents,  and  their  history  is  the  his- 
tory of  the  Territory.  Since  July  24th,  1847,  this  has  been 
their  gathering  place,  the  Territory  of  "the  Lord  and  Brother 
Brigham;"  a  consecrated  land  of  salt,  alkali  and  religious  con- 
cubinage; where  their  morals  were  to  be  cured,  and  their  spirit- 
ual interests  preserved.  When  we  consider  how  many  million 
people  there  are  in  the  world  to  whom  Mormonism  is  the  nat- 
ural religion,  how  full  modern  society  is  of  the  material  for 
such  a  church,  that  it  promises  a  heaven  exactly  after  the  natu- 
ral heart  of  man,  and  with  the  least  sacrifice  of  human  pride, 
lust  and  passion;  when  we  add  to  this  their  vast  and  compre- 
hensive missionary  system,  compassing  sea  and  land  to  make 
one  proselyte;  and  the  still  more  powerful  fact  that  Mormon- 
ism  comes  to  the  poor  of  the  old  world  not  merely  with  the 
attractiveness  of  a  new  religion,  but  with  the  certainty  of 
assisted  emigration  to  America,  a  land  described  to  them  as 
flowing  with  milk  and  honey,  we  should  naturally  expect  their 
recruits  to  be  numbered  by  tens  of  thousands  annually.  That 
Utah  has  not  filled  up  and  overflowed  half  a  dozen  times  with 


AND   CRIMES   OF   M3RMONISM.  39  A 

the  scum  of  Europe,  can  only  be  accounted  for  by  some  in- 
herent weakness  in  the  system  itself. 

This  weakness  shows  itself  in  two  ways:  inability  to  secure  a 
class  who  would  add  real  dignity  and  strength  to  a  new  com- 
monwealth, and  the  constant  loss  through  a  steady  and  ever 
increasing  apostasy.  Unfettered  American  enterprise  planted 
two  hundred  thousand  people  in  Colorado  in  twenty-five 
years;  the  vast  machinery  of  the  Mormon  emigration  system, 
the  excitement  of  religious  fanaticism,  the  utmost  zeal  of  a 
thousand  missionaries  preaching  temporal  prosperity  and  eter- 
nal salvation  to  an  ignorant  people,  backed  by  the  assurance 
of  a  speedy  passage  to  a  new  country,  and  aided  by  the  advan- 
tages of  an  organization  at  once  ecclesiastical  and  secular,  lias 
succeeded  in  thirty-five  years  in  fixing  an  uncertain  popu- 
lation of  a  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  in  Utah. 

The  older  population  is  made  up  very  nearly  as  follows: 
from  Great  Britain,  one-half;  from  Sweden,  Norway  and  Den- 
mark, one-third ;  a  dozen  or  twenty  each  from  Ireland,  Italy, 
France  and  Prussia;  a  few  Orientals;  five  Jews;  a  score  or  two 
of  Kanakas ;  and  the  remaining  one-seventh  or  eighth,  Ameri- 
can. The  children,  of  course,  are  nearly  all  natives.  While 
the  foreigners  are  as  seven  or  eight  to  one  in  the  body  of  the 
church,  the  Americans  are  in  a  majority  in  the  presidencies, 
Quorum  of  Apostles,  leading  bishops  and  elc!ers,  showing  pretty 
conclusively  the  "  ruling  race."  We  are  bound  to  say  that  our 
fellow-countrymen  are  smart,  if  they  are  rascally.  The  entire 
Mormon  people  include  probably  15,000  men  capable  of  bear- 
ing arms,  and  accustomed  to  their  use.  If  they  were  removed 
to-morrow,  the  nicest  examination  of  next  year's  national  statis- 
tics would  never  detect  the  loss. 

Lieutenant  Gunnison  once  estimated  that  Utah  would  sup- 
port one  million  people  by  grazing  and  agriculture,  on  200,000 


392  POLYGAMY;   OR,    THE    MYSTERIES 

square  miles.  The  Territory  is  now  only  about  two-fifths  as 
large,  and  with  an  improved  system  of  irrigation  I  am  con- 
vinced that  his  estimate  will  apply  proportionably  at  present. 
Thus,  within  the  present  limits  of  Utah  may  be  developed  a 
State,  with  a  population  of  a  quarter  million  engaged  in  agricul- 
ture, grazing  and  domestic  manufacture,  and  as  many  more 
engaged  in  mining.  But  long  before  that  occurs,  the  Territory 
must  undergo  a  political  and  social  change,  and  Mormonism 
give  way  to  Christianity,  progress  and  enterprise. 


AND   CRIMES   OF    MORMONI8M. 


393 


CHAPTER   XVIII. 

MORMON   MYSTERIES   AND    SECRET   MARRIAGES. 

The  endowment — Actors — Scenery  and  dress — Prerequisites — Adam  and  Eve, 
The  Devil  and  Michael,  Jehovah  and  Eloheim — A  new  version — Blas- 
phemous a&sumptions —  Terrible  oaths — Barbarous  penalties  —  Origin  — 
Scriptures  and  "  Paradise  Lost " — Eleusinian  mysteries — "  Morgan's  Free- 
masonry " — The  witnesses — Probabilities— Their  reasons — Changes— Secret 
marriages — No  proof— Beating  the  Gentile  courts. 

THE    ENDOWMENT. 

Dramatis  Personce,  (on  special  occasions). 


ELOHEIM,  or  Head  God 

JEHOVAH 

JESUS 

MICHAEL 

SATAN 

APOSTLE  PETER     - 

APOSTLE  JAMES 

APOSTLE  JOHN 

EVE  - 


John  Taylor, 
John  W.  Young, 
Daniel  H.  Wells, 
George  Q.  Cannon, 
Elder  Green, 
Joseph  F.  Smith, 
Orson  Hyde, 
Erastus  Snow, 
Miss  Eliza  R.  Snow 


Clerk,  Washers,  Attendants,  Sectarians,  Chorus  and  Endowees. 

L 

THE  FIRST  (PRE-EXISTENT)  ESTATE. 

THE  candidates  present  themselves  at  the  Endowment 
House,  provided  with  clean  clothes  and  a  lunch ;  they  are  ad- 
mitted to  the  outer  office,  and  their  accounts  with  the  church 


394  POLYGAMY. 

verified  by  a  clerk.  Their  names,  ages  and  the  dates  of  their 
conversion  and  baptism  are  entered  in  the  register;  their  tithing 
receipts  are  carefully  inspected,  and  if  found  correct  an  entry 
thereof  is  made.  This  last  is  an  indispensable  before  initiation. 
Evidence  is  also  presented  of  faithful  attendance  on  public 
1  service  and  at  the  "  School  of  the  Prophets."  If  any  husband 
and  wife  appear  who  have  not  been  sealed  for  eternity,  a  note  is 
made  of  the  fact,  the  ceremony  to  be  performed  in  the  initia- 
tion. They  then  remove  their  shoes,  and,  preceded  by  the 
attendants,  who  wear  slippers,  with  measured  and  noiseless  step 
enter  the  central  ante-room,  a  narrow  hall  separated  by  white 
screens  from  two  other  rooms  to  the  right  and  left ;  the  right 
one  is  for  men,  and  the  left  for  women. 

Deep  silence  prevails,  the  attendants  communicating  by  mys- 
terious signs  or  very  low  whispers ;  a  dim  light  pervades  the 
room,  mellowed  by  heavy  shades;  the  faint  plash  of  pouring 
water  behind  the  screens  alone  is  heard,  and  the  whole  scene  is 
calculated  to  cast  a  solemn  awe  over  the  ignorant  candidates, 
waiting  with  subdued  but  nervous  expectancy  for  some  mys- 
terious event.  After  a  few  moments  of  solemn  waiting  the 
men  are  led  to  their  washing-room  on  the  right,  and  the  women 
to  the  left.  The  female  candidate  is  stripped,  placed  in  the 
bath  and  washed  from  head  to  foot  by  a  woman  set  apart  for 
the  purpose.  Every  member  is  mentioned  with  a  special 
blessing. 

WASHER. — "Sister,  I  wash  you  clean  from  the  blood  of  this 
generation,  and  prepare  your  members  for  lively  service  in  the 
way  of  all  true  Saints.  I  wash  your  head  that  it  may  be  pre- 
pared for  that  crown  of  glory  awaiting  you  as  a  faithful  Saint, 
and  the  fruitful  wife  of  a  priest  of  the  Lord ;  that  your  brain 
may  be  quick  in  discernment,  and  your  eyes  able  to  perceive 
the  truth  and  avoid  the  snares  of  the  enemy;  your  mouth  to 


SCENES  IN  THE  ENDOWMENT  CEREMONIES. 

1.  Preparation — Washing  and  Anointing.  2.  Eloheira  Cursing  Adam  and  Eve 
--Satan  Driven  out.  3.  Trial  of  Faith—"  The  Searching  Hand."  4.  Oath  to 
Avenge  the  Death  of  Joseph  Smith.  5.  The  "  Blood  Atonement." 

(395) 


396 

show  forth  the  praise  of  the  immortal  gods,  and  your  tongue  to 
pronounce  the  true  name  which  will  admit  you  hereafter  behind 
the  veil,  and  by  which  you  will  be  known  in  the  celestial 
kingdom.  I  wash  your  arms  to  labor  in  the  cause  of  righteous- 
ness, and  your  hands  to  be  strong  in  building  up  the  kingdom 
of  God  by  all  manner  of  profitable  works.  I  wash  your  breasts 
that  you  may  prove  a  fruitful  vine,  to  nourish  a  strong  race 
of  swift  witnesses,  earnest  in  defence  of  Zion ;  your  body,  to 
present  it  an  acceptable  tabernacle  when  you  come  to  pass 
behind  the  veil ;  your  loins  that  you  may  bring  forth  a 
numerous  race,  to  crown  you  with  eternal  glory  and  strengthen 
the  heavenly  kingdom  of  your  husband,  your  master  and  crown 
in  the  Lord.  I  wash  your  knees,  on  which  to  prostrate  your- 
self and  humbly  receive  the  truth  from  God's  holy  priesthood ; 
your  feet  to  run  swiftly  in  the  ways  of  righteousness  and  stand 
firm  upon  the  appointed  places ;  and  now,  I  pronounce  you 
clean  from  the  blood  of  this  generation,  and  your  body  an  ac- 
ceptable temple  for  the  indwelling  of  the  Holy  Spirit." 

A  similar  washing  is  performed  upon  the  male  candidate 
in  his  own  room,  and  a  blessing  pronounced  upon  his  body  in 
like  manner. 

He  is  then  passed  through  a  slit  in  the  curtain  to  the  next 
compartment  forward ;  as  he  passes,  an  apostle  whispers  in  his 
ear  "a  new  name,  by  which  he  will  be  known  in  the  celestial 
kingdom  of  God."  It  is  supposed  to  be  of  eternal  importance 
that  this  name  be  remembered  by  its  bearer ;  but  of  all  the 
young  Saints  whose  accounts  I  have  heard,  not  one  could  re- 
member his  own !  This  gives  a  pretty  fair  view  of  what  the 
"  Hickorys "  really  think  of  their  elders'  religion.  Of  late 
years  it  has  degenerated  into  a  regular  burlesque;  and  lads, 
in  swimming  on  Sundays,  occasionally  amuse  their  leisure  on 
the  sand-bank  by  a  comic  representation  of  the  endowment. 


AND   CRIMES   OF   MORMONISM.  397 

just  as  rowdies  in  the  States  sometimes  burlesque  a  Methodist 
revival.  But  the  lads  are  exceedingly  careful  not  to  let  the  old 
folks  catch  them  at  such  performances,  as  the  latter  still  look  on 
the  ceremony  with  an  awful  reverence. 

Reaching  the  second  room,  the  candidate  is  anointed  with 
oil,  which  has  been  previously  blessed  and  consecrated  by  two 
priests,  poured  upon  his  head  from  a  horn,  or  from  a  mahogany 
vessel  shaped  to  resemble  one.  The  oil  is  rubbed  into  his  hair 
and  beard,  and  upon  each  of  his  limbs,  which  are  again  blessed 
in  order.  At  the  same  time  the  women  are  anointed  in  their 
own  washing  room.  The  candidate  is  then  dressed  in  a  sort  of 
tunic,  or  close-fitting  garment,  reaching  from  the  neck  to  the 
heels.  This,  or  a  similar  one,  blessed  for  the  purpose,  is 
always  to  be  worn  next  to  the  body,  to  protect  the  wearer 
from  harm  and  from  the  assaults  of  the  devil.  Many  Mor- 
mons are  so  strenuous  on  this  point,  they  remove  the  garment 
but  a  portion  at  a  time  when  changing,  partly  slipping  on  the 
new  before  the  old  is  entirely  off.  It  is  generally  believed  that 
Joe  Smith  took  oif  his  tunic  the  morning  he  went  to  Carthage, 
to  avoid  the  charge  of  being  in  a  secret  society ;  and  that  he 
would  not  have  been  killed,  if  he  had  retained  it.  Over  the 
tunic  comes  the  ordinary  underclothing,  and  above  a  robe  used 
only  for  this  purpose;  it  is  made  of  fine  linen,  plaited  on  the 
shoulders,  gathered  around  the  waist  with  a  band,  and  falling 
to  the  floor  behind  and  before.  On  the  head  is  placed  a  cap  of 
fine  linen,  and  on  the  feet  light  cotton  slippers. 

At  this  point  begins,  in  the  adjoining  room,  the  preparatory 
debate  in  the  grand  council  of  the  godsj  as  to  whether  they 
shall  make  man.  Eloheim,  Jehovah,  Jesus,  and  Michael 
intone  a  drama  in  blank  verse,  representing  the  successive 
steps  in  the  creation  of  the  world.  Eloheim  enumerates  the 
works  of  each  day,  and  commends  them  all;  at  the  close  of 


398  POLYGAMY;    OR,   THE    MYSTERIES 

each,  all  the  others  unite  in  a  responsive  chorus  of  surprise  and 
praise  at  the  glory  and  beauty  of  the  work,  concluding : 

"Eloheim.  Now  all  is  done,  and  earth  with  animate  life  is 
glad.  The  stately  elephant  to  browse  the  forest,  the  ramping 
lion  in  the  mountain  caves,  gazelles,  horned  cattle,  and  the 
fleecy  flocks  spread  o'er  the  grassy  vales;  behemoth  rolls  his 
bulk  in  shady  fens  by  river  banks,  among  the  ooze,  and  the 
great  whale  beneath  the  waters,  and  fowl  to  fly  above  in  the 
open  firmament  of  heaven.  Upon  the  earth  behold  bears, 
ounces,  tigers,  pards,  and  every  creeping  thing  that  moves  upon 
the  ground.  Each  after  his  kind  shall  bring  forth  and  mul- 
tiply upon  the  earth ;  and  yet  there  lacks  the  master  work,  the 
being  in  the  form  and  likeness  of  the  gods,  erect  to  stand,  his 
Maker  praise,  and  over  all  the  rest  dominion  hold." 

"Jehovah,  Jesus,  and  Michael.  Let  us  make  man,  in  image, 
form,  and  likeness  as  our  own;  and  as  becomes  our  sole  com- 
plete representative  on  earth,  to  him  upright,  dominion  give, 
and  power  over  all  that  flies,  swims,  creeps,  or  walks  upon  the 
earth." 

The  attendants  have  meanwhile  placed  the  candidates  on  the 
floor  and  closed  their  eyes,  when  the  gods  enter  and  manipulate 
them  limb  by  limb,  specifying  the  office  of  each  member,  and 
pretending  to  create  and  mould.  Then  they  slap  upon  them  to 
vivify  and  represent  the  creative  power,  breathe  into  their 
nostrils  "the  breath  of  life,"  and  raise  them  to  their  feet. 
They  are  then  supposed  to.be  "as  Adam,  newly  made,  com- 
pletely ductile,  mobile  in  the  maker's  hand." 

II. 

SECOND   ESTATE. 

Men  file  into  the  next  room,  with  paintings  and  scenery  to 
represent  the  Garden  of  Eden.  There  are  gorgeous  curtains 
and  carpets,  trees  and  shrubs  in  boxes,  paintings  of  mountains, 


AND   CRIMES   OF   MORMONISM.  399 

flowers,  and  fountains,  all  shown  in  soft  light  and  delicate  tints, 
together  presenting  a  beautiful  and  impressive  scene.  While 
they  move  around  the  garden  to  measured  music,  another  dis- 
cussion ensues  between  the  gods;  Michael  proposes  various 
animals,  in  turn,  to  be  the  intimates  of  man,  which  are  succes- 
sively rejected  by  Jehovah,  Jesus,  and  Eloheim.  The  men  are 
then  laid  recumbent,  with  closed  eyes,  in  pantomime  a  rib  is 
extracted  from  each,  out  of  which,  in  the  adjoining  room,  their 
wives  are  supposed  to  be  formed;  the  men  are  then  commanded 
to  awake,  and  see  their  wives  for  the  first  time  since  parting  in 
the  entry,  dressed  nearly  like  themselves.  They  walk  around 
the  garden  by  couples,  led  by  the  officiating  Adam  and  Eve, 
when  Satan  enters.  He  is  dressed  in  a  very  tight-fitting  suit 
of  black  velvet,  consisting  of  short  jacket  and  knee-breeches, 
with  black  stockings  and  slippers,  the  last  with  Jong  double 
points;  he,  also,  wears  a  hideous  mask,  and  pointed  helmet. 
He  approaches  Eve,  who  is  separated  from  Adam,  and  begins 
to  praise  her  beauty;  after  which  he  proffers  the  "temptation." 
(Here  there  is  a  difference  in  the  testimony.  John  Hyde  says, 
the  "fruit  offered  consisted  of  some  raisins  hanging  on  a 
shrub;"  one  lady  states  that  the  temptation  consists  of  gestures 
and  hints  "not  to  be  described;"  while  another  young  lady, 
after  implying  that  Adam  and  Eve  were  nearly  naked,  merely 
adds:  "I  cannot  mention  the  nature  of  the  fruit,  but  have  left 
more  unsaid  than  the  imagination  held  with  the  loosest  pos- 
sible rein  would  be  likely  to  picture,  .  .  .  the  reality  is  too 
monstrous  for  human  belief,  and  the  moral  and  object  of  the 
whole  is  socially  to  unsex  the  sexes."  A  third  lady  states  that 
the  fruit  consisted  merely  of  a  bunch  of  grapes,  and  adds : 
"Those  conducting  the  ceremonies  explained  to  us  beforehand 
that  this  portion  of  the  affair  should  be  conducted  with  the 
men  and  women  entirely  naked ;  but  that,  in  consequence  of 


400  POLYGAMY;    OR,   THE    MYSTERIES 

the  prejudice  existing  in  the  minds  of  individuals  against  that 
method  of  proceeding,  coupled  with  the  fact  that  we  were  not 
yet  sufficiently  perfect  and  pure-minded,  and  that  our  enemies 
would  use  it  as  a  weapon  against  us,  it  was  considered  neces- 
sary that  we  should  be  clothed."  But  these  ladies  were  initi- 
ated at  Nauvoo,  and  all  those  from  whom  I  have  received  any 
account  insist  that  there  was  nothing  indecent  in  the  ceremony. 
The  evidence  also  shows  that  the  programme  has  been  changed 
a  great  deal  from  time  to  time.) 

Eve  yields  and  partakes  of  the  "  fruit ; "  soon  after  she  is 
joined  by  Adam,  to  whom  she  offers  the  same;  he  first  hesi- 
tates, but  overcome  by  her  reproaches,  also  eats.  They  grow 
delirious  from  its  effects,  join  hands,  embrace,  and  dance  around 
the  room  till  they  sink  exhausted. 

A  loud  chorus  of  groans  and  lamentations  is  heard  behind 
the  curtain,  followed  by  a  sudden  crash  as  of  heavy  thunder ; 
a  rift  opens  in  a  curtain  painted  to  represent  a  dense  wood,  and 
in  the  opening  appears  Eloheim,  behind  him  a  brilliant  light; 
he  is  clothed  with  a  gorgeous  dress,  bespangled  with  brilliants 
and  bright  stripes  to  dazzle  the  eyes. 

"Eloheim.  Where  art  them,  Adam, 

Erst  created  first  of  all  earth's  tribes, 

And  wont  to  meet  with  joy  thy  coming  Lord?" 

"Adam.  Afar  I  heard  Thy  coming, 

In  the  thunder's  awful  voice, 
Thy  footsteps  shook  the  earth, 
And  dread  seized  all  my  frame, 
I  saw  myself  in  naked  shame, 
Unfit  to  face  Thy  Majesty." 

"Eloheim.  How  knew'st  thou  of  thy  shame? 
My  voice  thou  oft  hast  heard, 
And  feared  it  not.     What  hast  thou  done? 
Hast  eaten  of  that  tree 
To  ih ee  forbid?" 


AND   CHIMES   OF    MORMONISM.  401 

"Adam.  Shall  I  accuse  the  partner  of  my  life 
Or  on  myself  the  total  crime  avow  ? 
But  what  avails  concealment  with  earth's  Lord  ? 
His  thoughts  discern  my  inmost  hidden  sense. 
The  woman  Thou  gav'st  to  be  my  help 
Beguiled  me  with  her  perfect  charms, 
By  Thee  endowed,  acceptable,  divine, 
She  gave  me  of  the  fruit,  and  I  did  eat." 

"Eloheim.  Say,  woman,  what  is  this  that  thou  hast  done?" 
"Eve.  The  serpent  me  beguiled  and  I  did  eat." 

Eloheim  then  pronounces  a  curse — literally  copied  from  the 
Scripture — upon  the  serpent,  or  rather  Satan,  who  falls  upon 
the  ground,  and  with  many  contortions  wriggles  out  of  the 
room.  A  curse  is  next  pronounced  upon  Eve,  and  then  upon 
Adam,  paraphrased  from  the  Scripture.  They  fall  upon  the 
ground,  beat  their  breasts,  rend  their  clothes,  and  bewail  their 
lost  and  sinful  condition. 

"  Eloheim.  Now  is  man  fallen  indeed.  The  accursed  power 
which  first  made  war  in  Heaven,  hath  practiced  fraud  on  earth. 
By  Adam's  transgression  should  all  be  under  sin ;  the  moral 
nature  darkened,  and  none  could  know  the  truth.  But  cries 
of  penitence  have  reached  my  ears,  and  Higher  Power  shall 
redeem.  Upon  this  earth  I  place  My  holy  priesthood.  To 
them  as  unto  Me  in  humble  reverence  bow.  Man,  fallen  by 
Satan's  wiles,  shall  by  obedience  rise.  Behold,  the  Woman's 
Seed  shall  bruise  the  Serpent's  head ;  from  her  a  race  proceed 
endowed  on  earth  with  power  divine.  To  them  shall  man 
submit,  and  regain  the  paradise  now  lost  through  disobedience. 
With  power  divine  the  priesthood  is  endowed,  but  not  in  ful- 
ness now.  Obey  them  as  the  Incarnate  Voice  of  God,  and  in 
time's  fulness  Woman's  Seed  shall  all  that's  lost  restore  to  man. 
By  woman,  first  fallen,  Adam  fell ;  from  Woman's  Seed  the 
priesthood  shall  arise,  redeeming  man ;  and  man  in  turn  shall 
Eve  exalt,  restoring  her  to  the  paradise  by  her  first  lost. 
26 


402 


POLYGAMY;   OR,   THE   MYSTERIES 


Meanwhile  go  forth,  ye  fallen  ones,  with  only  nature's  light, 
and  seek  for  truth." 

The  attendants  now  place  upon  each  of  the  initiates  a  small 
square  apron,  of  white  linen  or  silk,  with  certain  emblematical 
marks  and  green  pieces  resembling  fig  leaves,  worked  in  and 
handsomely  embroidered. 


INTERIOR  OF  THE  MORMON  TABERNACLB. 

The  candidates  then  kneel  and  join  in  a  solemn  oath,  repeat- 
ing it  slowly  after  Adam:  That  they  will  preserve  the  secret 
inviolably,  under  penalty  of  being  brought  to  the  block,  and 
having  their  blood  spilt  upon  the  ground  in  atonement  for 
their  sin ;  that  they  will  obey  and  submit  themselves  to  the 
priesthood  in  all  things,  and  the  men  in  addition,  that  they  will 
take  no  woman  unless  given  them  by  the  Presidency  of  the 
Church.  A  grip  and  a  key-word  are  then  communicated,  and 


AND   CRIMES    OF    MORMONISM.  403 

the  First  Degree  of  the  Aaronic  Priesthood  is  conferred.  Man 
is  now  supposed  to  have  entered  into  life,  where  the  light  has 
become  as  darkness.  They  pass  through  a  narrow  opening 
into  the  next  room,  which  is  almost  dark,  heavy  curtains  shut- 
ting out  all  but  a  few  rays  of  light.  Here  they  stumble  about, 
fall  against  blocks  and  furniture;  persons  are  heard  calling, 
"here  is  light,"  "there  is  light,"  etc.,  and  a  contest  goes  on 
among  those  who  call  themselves  Methodist,  Baptist,  Presby- 
terian, Catholic,  etc. 

THE   SECTARIANS. 

Ezekiel  Broadbrim :  "  Verily,  my  soul  is  greatly  moved  for 
thee,  my  troubled  brother.  In  thy  darkened  condition  thou 
lackest  spiritual  discernment.  Thy  light  in  thee  is  as  darkness; 
thou  hast  lost  the  Spirit;  thou  art  altogether  without  hope — 
yea,  verily!  But  read  the  Holy  Word  and  regard  the  inner 
witness ;  then  shall  you  find  peace  to  your  souls.  But  resist 
not  evil ;  for  even  so  did  the  Prince  of  Peace  submit  himself  to 
wrong.  If  a  man  take  away  thy  cloak,  give  him  thy  coat  also. 
Shed  no  blood  in  anger — speak  evil  of  no  man — comfort  the 
widow  and  fatherless  and  supply  the  brother  in  want;  do  as  ye 
would  be  done  by,  and  pray  for  the  inner  light,  then  shall  ye 
receive  the  Spirit's  witness — yea,  verily." 

Parson  Calvin  Mather  (in  a  solemn  nasal  tone) :  "  God,  the 
Father  of  all  mercies,  has  most  graciously  been  pleased  for  His 
own  glory  to  elect  from  the  sons  of  men  such  as  should  receive 
His  grace.  But,  lo,  this  is  indeed  a  sinful  world  and  fallen 
man  is  given  up  to  the  devices  and  desires  of  his  own  heart. 
In  the  gall  of  bitterness,  in  the  strong  bonds  of  iniquity,  you 
wander  in  the  darkness  of  your  own  minds ;  not  a  thought  of 
your  hearts  but  is  evil  in  the  sight  of  heaven;  your  righteous- 
ness is  as  filthy  rags,  and  from  the  crown  of  the  head  to  the 
sole  of  the  foot  you  are  wounds  and  bruises  and  putrefying 
sores;  for 

'  There  is  none  righteous — no,  not  one : 

There  is  none  that  understandeth, 

There  is  none  that  seeketh  after  God. 


404  POLYGAMY;    OR,    THE   MYSTERIES 

Their  throat  is  an  open  sepulchre  ; 
With  their  tongues  they  have  used  deceit. 
The  poison  of  asps  is  under  their  lips. 
Their  feet  are  swift  to  shed  blood ; 
Destruction  and  misery  are  in  their  ways ; 
And  the  ways  of  peace  have  they  not  known. 
There  is  no  fear  of  God  before  their  eyes.' 

"Let  us  then  close  our  eyes  to  Satan's  wiles  and  come  to  Jesus, 
that  peradventure  we  may  prove  to  be  of  the  elect,  foreordained 
before  the  foundation  of  the  world.  For  of  ourselves  we  can 
indeed  do  nothing.  Therefore  let  the  brethren  bring  their 
children  to  the  altar  and  have  them  sprinkled ;  then  if  they 
are  to  be  saved,  they  will  be  saved,  otherwise,  though  not  a 
span  long,  they  must  howl  through  all  eternity  in  the  sul- 
phureous flames  of  the  bottomless  pit.  May  the  Lord  bless 
this  awful  truth  to  the  everlasting  good  of  your  waiting  souls. 
Amen!" 

The  Right  Rev.  Cream  Cheese  Pontifao:  "The  Lord  stand- 
eth  in  His  Holy  Temple;  let  all  the  earth  keep  silence  before 
Him.  By  the  mouth  of  His  Son  and  the  holy  apostles  hath 
He  founded  the  true  and  apostolic  church.  The  glorious  com- 
pany of  the  apostles  witness  it ;  the  noble  army  of  martyrs  con- 
firm it.  Let  every  one  be  baptized  by  one  having  authority, 
by  due  descent  through  the  laying  on  of  hands  and  the  apos- 
tolic succession ;  then  let  him  pay  for  his  pew  and  repose  in  the 
bosom  of  the  only  true  and  apostolic  body,  till  he  is  gloriously 
transferred  with  all  the  nice,  clean  and  well-behaved  church- 
men to  the  church  triumphant." 

Elder  Waterdip:  "Dearly  beloved,  my  text  to-day  will  be 
that  comforting  passage,  'whom  he  did  foreknow,  etc/  From 
this  we  learn :  1st.  That  very  few  are  saved.  2d.  That  if  you 
are  called,  you  can't  help  but  come.  3d.  That  if  you  don't 
come,  it's  a  sure  sign  you  weren't  called.  4th.  That  if  your 
calling  is  effectual,  you  can't  lose  it.  5th.  That  if  you  lose  it, 
you  never  had  it.  Incidentally  we  learn,  also,  that  none  but 
immersed  believers  should  commune  with  us;  that  though  others 
may  be  saved,  we  have  no  sure  promise  of  it,  and  that  the  only 
certainty  of  salvation  is  to  come  with  us  and  be  immersed." 


AND    CRIMES   OF    MORMONISM.  405 

Rev.  John  Wesley  Jones:  "My  perishing  fellow-sinners!  I 
would  fain  improve  the  time  this  morning  by  a  short  discourse 
on  the  text,  <  Depart,  ye  cursed,  into  everlasting  fire/  O,  my 
fellow-travellers,  you  are  on  the  way  to  hell — to  an  endless 
hell !  Before  nightfall  even,  one  of  this  congregation  may  be 
weltering  in  the  awful  gulf!  (Female  actors  shriek  and  fall  as 
in  a  faint.)  O,  come  to  the  Saviour.  Tear  off  your  jewelry 
and  kneel  at  the  mourners7  bench.  Brethren,  sing,  '  Plunged  in 
a  gulf  of  dark  despair/  " 

father  Gregory  (with  robes  and  crucifix) :  "  0  mater  sanc- 
tissima,  Ora  pro  nobis.  (Soft  music  and  lights  lowered.)  0 
beatissima  Coeli  Eegina!  Grant  us  intercession  with  thy  dear 
Son.  Make  thy  believing  children  faithful.  Guard  them  from 
all  heresy  and  false  doctrine.  Keep  them  in  the  true  faith  and 
in  their  holy  vows.  Gloria  Patri  ac  Filio  ac  Sancto  Spiritu — 
et  in  scecula  sceculorum" 

(Of  course  my  informants  could  not  recall  the  exact  words ; 
they  gave  only  the  general  outline  of  each  sectarian's  address ; 
and  the  reader  will  readily  perceive  that  the  Mormon  actor  in 
each  case  greatly  exaggerated  the  views  of  the  sect  to  be  ridi- 
culed.) 

Enter  Satan :  "  Ha !  ha !  You  suit  me  to  a  dot.  Go  it — go 
it.  One  prea'ches  immersion,  another  sprinkling;  one  predes- 
tination, another  free-will,  and  so  you  go.  You'll  never  con- 
vert the  world.  My  kingdom  prevails  over  all.  Go  it,  go  it. 
Ha!  Ha!  Ha!" 

(Loud  crash !  Curtains  fall.  A  blaze  of  light  is  thrown 
upon  the  scene.  Peter,  James  and  John  enter.) 

Satan :  "  What  have  I  to  do  with  thee !  I  know  thou  hast 
the  holy  priesthood." 

Peter,  James  and  John  (all) :  "And  in  the  name  of  Jesus 
Christ  and  His  Holy  Priesthood,  we  command  you  to  depart ! " 
Satan  falls  upon  the  ground,  foams,  hisses  and  wriggles  out, 
chased  and  kicked  by  the  Apostle  Peter. 

The  initiates  are  then  ranged  in  order  to  listen  to  a  lecture : 


106  POLYGAMY;   OR,    THE    MYSTERIES 

"Peter:  Brethren  and  sisters,  light  is  now  come  into  the 
world,  and  the  way  is  opened  unto  men  ;  Satan  hath  desired  to 
sift  you  as  wheat,  and  great  shall  be  his  condemnation  who  re- 
jects this  light.  (The  ceremony  is  explained  up  to  this  point.) 
The  holy  priesthood  is  once  more  established  upon  earth,  in 
the  person  of  Joseph  Smith  and  his  successors.  They  alone 
have  the  power  to  seal.  To  this  priesthood  as  unto  Christ,  all 
respect  is  due;  obedience  implicit,  and  yielded  without  a  mur- 
mur. He  who  gave  life  has  the  right  to  take  it.  His  repre- 
sentatives the  same.  You  are  then  to  obey  all  orders  of  the 
priesthood,  temporal  and  spiritual,  in  matters  of  life  or  death. 
Submit  yourselves  to  the  higher  powers,  as  a  tallowed  rag  in 
the  hands  of  God's  priesthood.  You  are  now  ready  to  enter 
the  kingdom  of  God.  Look  Forth  upon  the  void  and  tell  me 
what  ye  see."  (Curtain  is  raised.) 

Adam  and  Eve  :  "A  human  skeleton." 

Peter:  "Rightly  have  ye  spoken,  ^hold  all  that  remains 
of  one  unfaithful  to  these  holy  vows.  The  earth  had  no  habi- 
tation for  one  so  vile.  The  fowls  of  the  air  fed  upon  his  ac- 
cursed flesh,  and  the  fierce  elements  consumed  the  joints  and  the 
marrow.  Do  ye  still  desire  to  go  forward  ?" 

Adam:  "We  do." 

The  initiates  then  join  hands  and  kneel  in  a  circle,  slowly 
repeating  an  oath  after  Peter.  The  penalty  is  to  have  the 
throat  cut  from  ear  to  ear,  with  many  agonizing  details.  The 
Second  Degree  of  the  Aaronic  Priesthood  is  then  conferred,  and 
the  initiates  pass  into  the  third  room,  in  the  middle  of  which 
is  an  altar. 

III. 

THIRD   ESTATE. 

Emblematic  of  celestialized  men. 

"Michael.  Here  all  hearts  are  laid  open,  all  desires  revealed, 
and  all  traitors  are  made  known.  In  council  of  the  gods  it  hath 


AND   CRIMES   OF   MORMONISM.  407 

been  decreed  that  here  the  faithless  shall  die.  Some  enter  here 
with  evil  intent;  but  none  with  evil  intent  go  beyond 'this  veil 
or  return  alive,  if  here  they  practice  deceit.  If  one  among  you 
knows  aught  of  treachery  in  his  heart,  we  charge  him  now  to 
speak,  while  yet  he  may  and  live.  Brethren,  an  ordeal  awaits 
you.  Let  the  pure  have  no  fear;  the  false-hearted  quake. 
^Each  shall  pass  under  the  Searching  Hand,  and  the  Spirit  of 
the  Lord  decide  for  his  own." 

The  initiates  are  placed  one  by  one  upon  the  altar,  stretched 
at  full  length  upon  the  back,  and  the  officiating  priest  passes  an 
immense  knife  or  keen-edged  razor  across  their  throats.  It  is 
understood  that  if  any  are  false  at  heart,  the  Spirit  will  reveal 
it,  to  their  instant  death.  Of  course,  all  pass.  They  again 
clasp  hands,  kneel  and  slowly  repeat  after  Jehovah,  another 
oath.  The  penalty  for  its  violation  is  to  have  the  bowels  slit 
across  and  .the  entrails  fed  to  swine — with  many  horrifying  and 
disgusting  details.  Another  sign,  grip  and  key  word  are  given, 
and  the  First  Degree  of  the  Melchistdek  Priesthood  is  conferred, 
being  the  third  degree  of  the  Endowment.  Copies  of  the  Bible, 
"  Book  of  Mormon  "  and  "  Doctrine  and  Covenants"  are  placed 
upon  the  altar,  and  another  lecture  delivered.  The  initiates  are 
now  instructed  that  they  are  in  a  saved  condition,  and  are  to  go 
steadily  on  in  the  way  of  salvation ;  but  that  temporal  duties 
demand  their  first  care,  chief  among  which  is  a  positive,  imme- 
diate duty  to  avenge  the  death  of  the  Prophet  and  Martyr 
Joseph  Smith.  The  account  of  his  martyrdom  is  circumstan- 
tially related,  after  which  the  initiates  take  a  solemn  oath  to 
avenge  his  death  ;  that  they  will  bear  eternal  hostility  to  the 
Government  of  the  United  States  for  the  murder  of  the 
Prophet ;  that  they  renounce  all  allegiance  they  may  have  held 
to  the  Government,  and  hold  themselves  absolved  from  all 
oaths  of  fealty,  past  or  future;  that  they  will  do  all  in  their 


408  POLYGAMY;    OR,   THE    MYSTERIES 

power  towards  the  overthrow  of  that  Government,  ami  in  event 
of  failure  teach  their  children  to  pursue  that  duty  after  them. 
(It  is  claimed  that  this  oath  as  to  Joseph  Smith  has  been 
omitted  for  years  past.)  Another  oath  of  fidelity  and  secresy 
is  administered,  of  which  the  penalty  is  to  have  the  heart  torn 
out  and  fed  to  the  fowls  of  the  air.  The  initiates  are  now  de- 
clared acceptable  to  God,  taught  a  new  form  of  prayer,  "in  an 
unknown  tongue/'  and  the  Second  Degree  of  the  Melchizedel: 
Priesthood  is  conferred.  They  are  then  passed  "behind  the 
veil,"  a  linen  curtain,  to  the  last  room. 

IV. 

FOURTH    ESTATE. 

The  kingdom  of  the  Gods. 

The  men  enter  first,  and  the  officiating  priest  cuts  certain 
marks  on  their  garments  and  a  slight  gash  just  above  the  right 
knee.  Then,  at  the  command  of  Eloheim,  they  one  by  one  in- 
troduce their  women  to  the  room.  Very  few  instances  have 
occurred  of  women  being  admitted  to  these  rites  before  mar- 
riage. "Sealing  for  eternity"  is  then  performed  for  all  who 
have  previously  been  only  "  married  for  time." 

The  initiated  then  retire,  resume  their  regular  dress,  get  a 
lunch,  and  return  to  hear  a  lengthy  address,  explaining  the  en- 
tire allegory,  and  their  future  duties  consequent  on  the  vows 
they  have  taken.  The  entire  ceremony  and  address  occupy 
about  ten  hours. 

Such  is  the  Endowment,  as  reported  by  many  who  have 
passed  through  it.  The  gentle  reader  will  readily  recognize 
that  portion  which  is  paraphrased  from  the  Scriptures  and  Mil- 
ton's "  Paradise  Lost."  The  general  outline  is  evidently  mod- 
eled upon  the  Mysteries  or  Holy  Dramas  of  the  Middle  Ages. 
Much  of  it  will  be  recognized  as  extracted  from  "Morgan's 


AND  CRIMES  OF  MORMONISM.  409 

Free-masonry  Expose^"  by  those  familiar  with  that  work ;  and 
the  origin  of  this  is  quite  curious.  When  Smith  and  Rigdon 
first  began  their  work  they  were  in  great  doubt  what  to  preach ; 
a  furious  religious  excitement  was  prevalent  in  the  West,  and 
portions  of  argument  in  regard  to  all  the  isms  of  the  day  may 
be  found  in  the  "  Book  of  Mormon."  But  Anti-Masonry  was 
just  then  the  great  political  excitement  of  New  York,  and  the 
infant  Church  was  easily  drawn  into  that  furious  and  baseless 
crusade,  which  already  ranks  in  history  as  one  of  those  unac- 
countable popular  frenzies  which  occasionally  disturb  our  poli- 
tics, rising  from  no  one  knows  where,  and  subsiding  as  appar- 
ently without  cause.  Smith's  "New  translation"  of  the  Old 
Testament  is  full  of  Anti-Masonry;  the  fifth  chapter  of  Gene- 
sis as  he  has  it,  which  is  added  entire  to  our  version,  is  devoted 
entirely  to  the  condemnation  of  secret  societies,  and  sets  forth 
particularly  how  they  were  the  invention  of  Cain  after  he  "  fled 
from  the  presence  of  the  Lord."  But  the  Brighamites  declare 
the  time  has  not  yet  come  to  publish  or  circulate  this  Bible ; 
and  it  is  only  quoted  by  the  Josephites,  who  use  this  chapter  to 
condemn  the  Endowment.  Some  years  after,  however,  the 
Mormons  all  became  Masons,  and  so  continued  till  they 
reached  Nauvoo;  there  Joseph  Smith  out-masoned  Solomon 
himself,  and  declared  that  God  had  revealed  to  him  a  great 
key-word,  which  had  been  lost,  and  that  he  would  lead 
Masonry  to  far  higher  degrees,  and  not  long  after  their  charter 
was  revoked  by  the  Grand  Lodge,  How  much  of  masonry 
proper  has  survived  in  the  Endowment,  the  writer  will  not 
pretend  to  say ;  but  the  Mormons  are  pleased  to  have  the  out- 
side world  connect  the  two,  and  convey  the  impression  that  this 
is  "Celestial  Masonry." 

There  was  a  time  when  the  Gentile  idea  of  what  was  done  in 
the  endowment  was  all  guesswork ;  and  the  accounts  published 


410  POLYGAMY. 

while  the  Mormons  were  at  Nauvoo  were  evidently  mere  ro- 
mances, some  of  them,  however,  quite  poetical.  But  now  there 
are  hundreds,  yes,  thousands,  of  people  scattered  over  the  West 
who  were  once  Mormons,  and  feel  no  sort  of  hesitation  in  re- 
vealing the  mysteries.  Orthodox  Mormons  claim  that  when 
one  apostatizes,  his  or  her  memory  of  all  the  endowment  cere- 
monies is  miraculously  destroyed ;  and  it  is  apparent  that  the 
average  uneducated  Mormon  could  not  remember  the  details, 
especially  as.  the  initiate  is  under  a  deep  feeling  of  solemnity 
and  awe  while  going  through  it.  But  so  many  have  given  their 
experience,  both  in  print  and  conversation,  that  almost  every 
detail  is  known.  Such  is  one  of  the  means  employed  by  the 
Mormon  leaders  to  weld  their  people  into  perfect  unity;  and  to 
such  a  feast  of  blasphemy  and  horrors  do  they  invite  the 
world,  iii  their  seductive 

MISSIONARY    HYMX. 

"  Lo !  the  Gentile  chain  is  broken ; 

Freedom's  banner  waves  on  high  •, 
List,  ye  nations !  by  this  token 

Know  that  your  redemption's  nigh. 

"  See,  on  yonder  distant  mountain, 
Zion's  standard  wide  tmfurPd ; 
Far  above  Missouri's  fountain, 
Lo !  it  waves  for  all  the  world. 

"Freedom,  peace  and  full  salvation, 

Are  the  blessings  guaranteed ; 
Liberty  to  every  nation, 

Every  tongue  and  every  creed. 

"Come,  ye  Christian  sects  and  pagan, 
Pope,  and  Protestant,  and  priest ; 
Worshippers  of  God  or  Dagon, 
Come  ye  to  fair  Freedom's  feast. 


412 

"  Come,  ye  sons  of  doubt  and  wonder, 
Indian,  Moslem,  Greek,  or  Jew ; 
A.11  your  shackles  burst  asunder, 
Freedom's  banner  waves  for  yon." 

The  foregoing  is  merely  the  regular  initiation ;  but  there  is 
another  ceremony  frequently  performed  in  the  Endowment 
House,  of  which  the  United  States  officials  in  Utah  would  be 
only  too  happy  to  get  a  record — the  polygamous  marriage.  But 
when  brought  before  the  courts,  none  of  the  Mormon  officials 
know  anything  about  it !  Time  was  when  this  secrecy  was  un- 
necessary. Polygamous  marriages  were  quite  as  open  as  any, 
and  the  wedding  supper,  dance  and  all  that  sort  of  thing,  quite 
en  regie.  Then,  according  to  Orson  Pratt's  paper  on  the  sub- 
ject, the  marriage  was  on  this  wise:, 

"  When  the  day  set  apart  for  the  solemnization  of  the  mar- 
riage ceremony  has  arrived,  the  bridegroom  and  his  wife,  and 
also  the  bride,  together  with  their  relatives  and  such  other 
guests  as  may  be  invited,  assemble  at  the  place  which  they  have 
appointed.  The  scribe  then  proceeds  to  take  the  names,  ages, 
native  towns,  counties,  States,  and  countries  of  the  parties  to  be 
married,  which  he  carefully  enters  on  record.  The  President, 
who  is  the  Prophet,  Seer  and  Revelator  over  the  whole  church 
throughout  the  world,  and  who  alone  holds  the  '  keys '  of  au- 
thority in  this  solemn  ordinance  (as  recorded  in  the  2d  and  5th 
paragraphs  of  the  Revelation  on  Marriage),  calls  upon  the 
bridegroom  and  his  wife,  and  the  bride,  to  arise,  which  they  do, 
fronting  the  President.  The  wife  stands  on  the  left  hand  of 
her  husband,  while  the  bride  stands  on  her  left.  The  President 
then  puts  this  question  to  the  wife : 

"  'Are  you  willing  to  give  this  woman  to  your  husband  to  be 
his  lawful  and  wedded  wife  for  time  and  for  all  eternity?  If 
you  are,  you  will  manifest  it  by  placing  her  right  hand  within 
the  right  hand  of  your  husband.' 


AND   CRIMES   OF    MORMOXISM.  413 

<fThe  right  hands  of  the  bridegroom  and  bride  being  thus 
joined,  the  wife  takes  her  husband  by  the  left  arm,  as  if  in  the 
attitude  of  walking ;  the  President  then  proceeds  to  ask  the  fol- 
lowing question  of  the  man  : 

" '  Do  you,  brother '  (calling  him  by  name),  '  take  sister'  (call- 
ing the  bride  by  her  name)  '  by  the  right  hand,  to  receive  her 
unto  yourself,  to  be  your  lawful  and  wedded  wife,  and  you  to 
be  her  lawful  and  wedded  husband,  for  time  and  for  all  eter- 
nity, with  a  covenant  and  promise,  on  your  part,  that  you  will 
fulfil  all  the  laws,  rites  and  ordinances,  pertaining  to  this  holy 
matrimony,  in  the  new  and  everlasting  covenant,  doing  this  in 
the  presence  of  God,  angels  and  these  witnesses,  of  your  own 
free  will  and  choice  ? ' 

"  The  bridegroom  answers,  '  Yes.'  The  President  then  puts 
the  question  to  the  bride : 

"  '  Do  you,  sister'  (calling  her  by  name),  '  take  brother '  (call- 
ing him  by  name)  l  by  the  right  hand,  and  give  yourself  to  him, 
to  be  his  lawful  and  wedded  wife  for  time  and  for  all  eternity, 
with  a  covenant  and  promise  on  your  part  that  you  will  fulfil 
all  the  laws,  rites  and  ordinances,  pertaining  to  this  holy  mat- 
rimony, in  the  new  and  everlasting  covenant,  doing  this  in  the 
presence  of  God,  angels  and  these  witnesses,  of  your  own  free 
will  and  choice?' 

"  The  bride  answers,  '  Yes.'     The  President  then  says : 

"  *  In  the  name  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  by  the  authority 
of  the  Holy  Priesthood,  I  pronounce  you  legally  and  lawfully 
husband  and  wife  for  time  and  for  all  eternity :  and  I  seal  upon 
you  the  blessings  of  the  holy  resurrection,  with  power  to  come 
forth  in  the  morning  of  the  first  resurrection,  clothed  with 
glory,  immortality  and  eternal  lives ;  and  I  seal  upon  you  the 
blessings  of  thrones,  and  dominions,  and  principalities,  and 
powers,  and  exaltations,  together  with  the  blessings  of  Abra- 


414  POLYGAMY;     OR,    THE    MYSTERIES 

ham,  Isaac  and  Jacob;  and  say  unto  you,  Be  fruitful  and  mul- 
tiply and  replenish  the  earth,  that  you  may  have  joy  and 
rejoicing  in  your  posterity  in  the  day  of  the  Lord  Jesus.  All 
these  blessings,  together  with  all  other  blessings  pertaining  to 
the  new  and  everlasting  covenant,  I  seal  upon  your  heads, 
through  your  faithfulness  unto  the  end,  by  the  authority  of  the 
Holy  Priesthood,  in  the  name  of  the  Father,  and  of  the  Son, 
and  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  Amen.' 

"  The  scribe  then  enters  on  the  general  record  the  date  and 
place  of  the  marriage,  together  with  the  names  of  two  or  three 
witnesses  who  were  present." 

It  will  be  observed  that  the  legal  wife  is  asked  but  one  ques- 
tion, and  that  a  brief  one;  the  "free  will  and  choice"  business 
is  carefully  omitted,  and  Pratt  explains  the  omission  and  the 
position  of  the  first  wife,  thus : 

"  When  a  man  who  has  a  wife  teaches  her  the  law  of  God,  as 
revealed  to  the  ancient  patriarchs  and  as  manifested  by  new 
revelation,  and  she  refuses  to  give  her  consent  for  him  to  marry 
another  according  to  that  law,  then  it  becomes  necessary  for  her 
to  state  before  the  President  the  reasons  why  she  withholds  her 
consent;  if  her  reasons  are  sufficient  and  justifiable,  and  the  hus- 
band is  found  in  the  fault,  or  in  transgression,  then  he  is  not 
permitted  to  take  any  step  in  regard  to  obtaining  another.  But 
if  the  wife  can  show  no  good  reason  why  she  refuses  to  comply 
with  the  law  which  was  given  unto  Sarah  of  old,  then  it  is  law- 
ful for  her  husband,  if  permitted  by  revelation  through  the 
Prophet,  to  be  married  to  others  without  her  consent,  and  he 
will  be  justified,  and  she  will  be  condemned,  because  she  did  not 
give  them  unto  him,  as  Sarah  gave  Hagar  to  Abraham,  and  as 
Rachel  and  Leah  gave  Bilhah  and  Zilpah  to  their  husband 
Jacob." 

I  always  liked  Orson  Pratt  better  than  any  other  member  of 


AND   CRIMES   OF   MORMONISM.  415 

the  priesthood,  and  I  particularly  admire  his  honesty  in  the 
foregoing  extract,  especially  where  he  credits  Sarah,  Rachel  and 
Leah  with  being  the  authors  of  their  husbands'  polygamy. 
Evidently  the  Lord  had  nothing  to  do  with  it.  It  is  reason- 
able to  suppose  that  the  same  ceremony  is  maintained  now  that 
the  marriages  are  secret  and  in  the  Endowment  House;  and 
that  the  record  is  just  as  carefully  kept.  But  no  Gentile  court 
has  ever  been  able  to  learn  where  that  record  is.  It  is  now  time 
to  relate  their  various  attempts  to  do  so,  and  to  execute  justice 
in  other  respects;  and  the  peculiar  tactics  employed  by  the 
Mormons  to  defeat  justice.  This  curious  warfare  lasted  through 
the  whole  of  Grant's  administration,  and  is  now  to  be  related. 


416  POLYG4J»IY;   OR,   THE   MYSTEJW5S 


CHAPTER  XIX. 

UTAH   UNDER  GRANT  L 

The  forward  movement — Attack  on  the  entire  Mormon  position — Judges  Wil- 
son, Hawley,  and  Strickland — Chief-Justice  McKean — Governor  J.  W. 
Shaffer — Secretary  and  Governor  Vaughan — Secretary  Black  and  the 
Nauvoo  Legion — Movement  for  a  State  government — Judge  McKean 's 
court  overthrown — His  character. 

FROM  the  day  the  Union  Pacific  Railroad  was  chartered 
there  was  a  confident  hope  in  the  minds  of  the  American  people 
that  it  would  prove  the  death  of  Mormonism.  Bowles  and 
Richardson  confidently  prophesied  it;  Congress  accepted  that 
view  as  releasing  the  Government  from  any  further  concern 
about  the  business,  and  the  Mormons  themselves  showed  a 
dread  of  it.  Brigham,  however,  said  in  his  bluff  way  that  it 
would  be  "  a  d — d  poor  religion  that  couldn't  stand  one  rail- 
road." Well,  the  road  reached  Utah  in  1869,  to  find  an  empire 
within  an  empire,  in  almost  unrestricted  career.  A  dumb  war 
existed  between  the  great  majority  of  the  people,  adherents  of 
the  Mormon  Church,  and  represented  by  the  Territorial  Gov-, 
ernment,  and  the  American  people,  represented  by  the  courts 
established  and  the  executive  officers  appointed  by  the  National 
Government.  The  people  were  organized  as  a  militia,  officered, 
and  commanded  independently  of  the  governor.  The  Pro- 
bate Courts  assumed  to  exercise  a  jurisdiction  concurrent  with 
that  of  the  District  Courts,  and  the  Territory  assumed  to  ap- 
point all  the  officers  and  organs  of  the  latter  save  the  Judges. 
Chief-Justice  McKean,  appointed  by  President  Grant,  in  1870, 


AND   CRIMES   OF   MORMONISM. 


417 


TRAIL  TO  SEVIER   MINING  CAMP. 

27 


with  his  associ- 
ates, Justices 
Hawley  and  Strick- 
land, limited  the  jurisdic- 
tion of  the  Probate  Courts 
as  prescribed  in  the  Or- 
ganic Act.  This  was  sus- 
tained by  the  Supreme 
Court  of  the  United  States 
in  Perris  et  al.  vs.  Higley 
et  at.,  October  term,  1874. 
In  ruling  out  the  Terri- 
torial Marshal  and  Prose- 
cutor, and  instructing  the 
United  States  Marshal  to 
summon  juries  on  an  open 
venire,  they  followed  the 
Supreme  Court  of  the 
United  States  in  Orchard 
vs.  Hughes  (1  Wall.,  77), 
Noouan  vs.  Lee  (2  Black, 
499),  and  Dunphy  vs. 
Kleinsmith  (11  Wall, 


418  POLYGAMY. 

610).  Juries  summoned  in  this  way  indicted  Brigham  Young, 
Daniel  H.  Wells,  and  many  other  leading  Mormons  for 
murder,  or  adultery  or  lascivious  cohabitation  (polygamy), 
at  the  fall  term,  1871.  It  would  fill  a  larger  book  than  this  to 
relate  all  the  odd  and  exciting  events  connected  with  these  ar- 
rests, or  even  the  humorous  anecdotes  current  at  the  time.  The 
United  States  Marshal  on  one  occasion  went  to  summon  one  of 
Delegate  and  Apostle  Cannon's  wives  as  a  witness;  and  the 
story  goes  that  the  doughty  apostle  kept  his  wives  standing 
guard  for  several  nights  to  give  warning  if  any  official  ap- 
proached. Just  for  what  purpose  this  was  nobody  knows ;  but 
it  was  an  exciting  time,  and  Mormon  and  Gentile  alike  did 
some  things  they  were  not  proud  of  afterwards. 

Daniel  H.  Wells,  Mayor  of  the  city,  was  bailed  in  the  sum 
of  $50,000,  and  the  others  were  held  in  easy  custody  while  the 
cases  were  appealed  to  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States. 
It  was  necessary  to  state  so  much  consecutively  to  make  clear 
what  must  now  be  set  forth  more  in  detail.  Chief- Justice  Wil- 
son had  already  moved  in  the  matter  of  divesting  the  Probate 
Courts  of  their  excessive  jurisdiction,  and  had  instructed  the 
United  States  Marshal  to  issue  his  venire  for  a  jury ;  but  Judge 
Wilson  was  removed  in  the  summer  of  1870,  and  Hon.  James 
B.  McKean,  of  New  York,  appointed  in  his  stead.  The  di- 
vorce business  of  Utah  had  meanwhile  fallen  into  horrible 
anarchy :  anybody  could  procure  a  divorce  for  almost  any 
cause,  and  a  certain  class  of  Gentiles  had  used  this  privilege  to 
a  scandalous  extent.  A  citizen  of  Corinne,  who  had  been 
married  several  years,  brought  his  wife's  sister  from  the  Statct 
to  reside  with  them.  A  few  months  after  we  missed  him  from 
his  usual  haunts  one  fine  morning,  and  found  he  had  gone  with 
wife  and  sister  to  Brigham  City,  the  county  seat.  Judge  Smith 
promptly  called  his  court  and  granted  our  citizen  a  divorce;  h« 


CANNON'S  WIVES  ON  GUARD. 


420  POLYGAMY  ;    OR,    THE    MYSTERIES 

took  out  licence  for  the  sister  at  once,  returned,  and  married 
her  that  night.  Three  months  after  the  new  wife  became  a 
mother,  and  a  few  weeks  later  the  brevet  wife  married  the  late 
husband's  partner.  Everything  was  legal,  the  county  finances 
were  $25  better,  and  it  is  presumed  everything  is  lovely  in  the 
new  households. 

I  had  long  been  acquainted  with  a  Gentile  merchant  whose 
name  I  one  day  saw  in  a  legal  notice  in  one  of  the  papers, 
summoning  his  wife  to  "appear  and  show  cause"  why  he 
should  not  have  a  divorce,  etc.  Calling  the  same  day  I  was 
still  more  amazed  to  see  him  in  the  bosom  of  his  family  with 
every  appearance  of  peace  and  comfort.  On  inquiry  (for  we 
were  quite  intimate),  I  learned  that  he  left  a  wife  in  New  York 
when  he  set  out  for  California  in  1849,  and  having  married  a 
Mormon  girl  in  1861,  and  lately  learning  that  his  first  wife 
was  alive  and  prosperous,  thought  it  best  to  have  a  divorce 
from  her,  "  for  now  we  are  so  near  the  East,  she  might  stray 
out  here,  you  know."  The  divorce  was  in  no  long  time  ob- 
tained, total  cost,  including  advertisement,  $67.50. 

The  second  case  involving  Probate  jurisdiction  was  that  of 
Lawrence  vs.  Wardell,  In  Equity.  This  suit  was  commenced  in 
the  Supreme  Court,  and  the  original  jurisdiction  of  that  court 
objected  to  by  defendants.  Judge  Hawley,  relying  upon  the 
Organic  Act  and  a  lengthy  array  of  authorities,  reaffirmed  the 
principal  points  of  the  preceding  case,  and  decided  that  the 
Supreme  Court  had  "original  jurisdiction  in  chancery  matters." 
But  this  case  developed  a  difference  of  opinion  among  the 
United  States  Judges.  Chief-Justice  Wilson  concurred  in  the 
opinion  that  the  Supreme  Court  had  original  jurisdiction,  but 
dissented  as  to  the  remainder  of  the  opinion;  while  Jus- 
tice Strickland  agreed  with  the  remainder  but  dissented 
as  to  the  original  jurisdiction.  As  a  majority  was  with 


AND    CRIMES    OF    MORMONJSM.  421 

Justice  Hawley  on  both  points,  his  opinion  remained  the  law 
for  a  while. 

Meanwhile  the  Gentiles  and  apostate  Mormons  had  organ- 
ized a  Liberal  party.  In  1869  a  few  persons  ran  for  the  Legis- 
lature on  their  own  motion,  and  received  altogether  about  a 
thousand  votes.  In  the  spring  of  1870  the  Liberals  called  a 
mass  convention  in  Salt  Lake  City ;  but  the  Mormons  took  pos- 
session of  the  hall,  drove  out  the  Liberals  and  then  ratified  the 
church  nominations ! 

But  the  Brighamites  had  gone  too  far.  The  outside  press  was 
heard  from,  and  such  a  storm  of  indignation  rose  that  it  became 
apparent,  even  to  the  priesthood,  that  henceforth  public  opinion 
would  be  a  power  even  in  Utah.  The  city  contest  was,  how- 
ever, but  an  attempt  at  organization.  A  delegate  was  to  be 
elected  to  Congress  in  1870,  and  at  the  start  a  serious  difference 
of  opinion  arose.  The  leading  Gentiles  at  Corinne  declared 
against  any  union  with  the  Reform  Mormons,  while  at  Salt 
Lake  City  that  class  constituted  the  majority  of  the  Liberals. 
Corinne  had  been  incorporated  the  preceding  winter,  and  was  a 
flourishing  independency  of  1,200  inhabitants.  It  was  then  the 
only  Gentile  town  of  any  size  in  Utah,  and  the  only  one  settled 
and  governed  entirely  by  non-Mormons ;  hence,  it  enjoyed  for 
the  time  a  rare  distinction,  and  was  regarded  as  the  Gentile 
headquarters  for  the  Territory.  The  Corinnethians  nominated 
one  man,  the  Liberals  another.  In  due  time,  however,  we  com- 
promised on  General  George  R.  Maxwell,  a  veteran  of  the  late 
war,  covered  with  honorable  wounds,  who  had  come  to  the  Ter- 
ritory as  Register  of  the  Land  Office.  General  Maxwell  re- 
ceived about  1,800  legal  votes,  a  gratifying  show,  indeed,  for 
the  Liberals,  doubling  their  vote  of  the  previous  year.  At 
least  500  Gentile  votes  were  lost,  being  those  of  miners  in 
newly-organized  districts  with  no  voting  precincts.  The  "God- 


422  FOLYfcAMY;   OB,    THE    MYSTERIES 

beites,"  so  called,  did  not  vote  at  this  election.  Their  reasons 
were  strange,  but  consistent,  as  shown  by  their  history.  They 
broke  from  the  Mormon  Church  late  in  1869,  protesting  merely 
against  the  tyranny  of  the  priesthood  in  civil  matters,  and  ad- 
vocating loyalty  to  the  government  and  development  of  the 
mineral  resources  of  Utah;  in  all  else  they  claimed  to  be  "good 
Mormons."  They  had  declared  against  Congressional  interfer- 
ence with  polygamy,  and  could  not  vote  for  the  platform  which 
favored  it.  But  their  progress  has  continued.  They  are  good 
citizens,  and  supporters  of  the  government  in  Utah;  and, 
though  their  numbers  are  inconsiderable,  their  influence  on  the 
body  of  the  people  has  been  widespread.  Like  most  recusant 
Mormons,  they  tried  to  draw  off  easily,  to  leave  the  church  with 
as  little  hatred  as  possible.  Had  the  Mormons  been  like  most 
of  the  Protestant  sects,  laboring  with  and  praying  for  dissenters, 
instead  of  cursing  them,  many  seceders  therefrom  would  have 
gone  back,  half-persuaded,  half-driven  by  the  sneers  and  criti- 
cisms of  the  world.  For,  in  the  eyes  of  the  uncharitable,  to  be 
a  Mormon  is  terrible ;  to  be  an  apostate  is  despicable,  and  to  be 
an  apostate  Mormon  is  doubly  damnable.  But  the  genius  of 
Brighamism  brooks  no  difference  of  opinion,  even  in  minor 
matters.  When  the  priesthood  speaks  on  spiritual  or  temporal 
affairs,  it  is  yea  and  amen  ;  to  doubt  is  to  be  damned,  and  to 
dissent  rank  heresy  and  apostasy  most  vile. 

The  Godbeites  were  literally  goaded  into  red-hot  anti-Mor- 
monism;  and  probably  all  their  personal  trials  and  insults  had 
less  to  do  with  the  result  than  the  shameful  outrage  on  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  T.  B.  H.  Stenhouse.  He  had  put  in  a  lifetime  of  work 
for  the  church,  and  when  his  faith  departed  tried  to  get  out 
quietly.  One  evening,  as  Stenhouse  and  his  wife  were  on  their 
way  homeward,  they  were  seized  by  four  of  the  "church 
strikers,"  and  shamefully  treated,  filth  from  the  privy  being 


AND  CRIMES  OF   MORMONISM.  423 

dashed  into  their  faces  and  over  their  persons.  Some  of  the 
perpetrators  were  recognized  as  men  in  the  employ  of  the 
church.  Small  as  this  matter  now  appears,  it  almost  inaugu- 
rated a  rebellion  in  Utah.  A  storm  of  indignation  arose  among 
all  but  the  adherents  of  the  priesthood.  Even  at  Corinne, 
where  I  then  resided,  and  where  Stenhouse  was  rather  unpopular, 
the  fiercest  anger  was  expressed,  and  retaliation  sworn  upon  the 
Mormons.  Much  of  this  was  due  to  the  fact  that  Mrs.  Sten- 
house was  generally  known  and  loved. 

This  most  estimable  lady  had  accompanied  her  husband  in 
many  of  his  labors,  and  in  her  believing  days  had  made  great 
sacrifices  for  Mormonism.  She  was  accomplished  in  the  French 
and  English  languages,  and  had  been  accustomed  to  receive 
many  of  the  foreign  visitors  to  Salt  Lake ;  none  had  failed  to 
acknowledge  her  courtesy,  and  credit  the  Mormons  therewith, 
and  her  hospitable  graces  were  celebrated  even  in  Europe  by 
the  facile  pens  of  Remy  and  Burton.  That  this  lady  should  be 
touched  even,  by  the  vile  hands  of  the  secret  police,  was  indig- 
nity enough ;  the  nature  of  the  assault  roused  her  many  ac- 
quaintances to  a  perfect  frenzy. 

President  Grant  had  appointed  S.  A.  Mann  as  secretary,  to 
succeed  E.  P.  Higgins,  and  J.  W,  Shaffer  as  governor,  to  suc- 
ceed Durkee,  who  died  late  in  1869.  Secretary  Mann  arrived 
first,  and  acted  as  governor  that  winter.  The  Mormon  Legis- 
lature passed  a  bill  giving  the  right  of  suffrage  to  women ;  and 
Secretary  Mann  signed  it  against  the  wish  of  Governor  Shaffer 
and  the  indignant  protest  of  the  Gentiles.  It  was  so  obviously 
a  Mormon  trick  that  the  secretary's  approval  created  general 
disgust.  Many  other  damaging  charges  were  made  against 
him,  and  in  June,  1870,  Hon.  C.  C.  Crowe,  of  Alabama,  was 
appointed  in  his  place.  Crowe  was  confirmed  by  the  Senate  one 
evening,  and  died  the  next.  This  left  the  office  vacant.  I  WM 


424  POLYGAMY;    OR,   THE    MYSTERIES 

at  that  time  in  Washington,  and  noted  the  curious  fact  that  ten 
applications  for  the  place  were  on  file  in  forty-eight  hours  after 
Crowe's  death. 

President  Grant  appointed  Professor  V.  H.  Vaughan,  of  the 
University  of  Alabama,  a  gentleman  with  all  the  stereotyped 
faults  and  virtues  of  the  young  Southerner :  brave  and  incau- 
tious, social  and  a  little  too  convivial,  open,  lounging  and  com- 
municative. Educated  as  a  professor,  and  not  for  a  politician, 
he  was  lacking  in  secretiveness,  which  is  a  necessity  for  an  of- 
ficial in  Utah  above  all  other  places.  His  views  were  sound 
on  the  problem  presented  him,  but  his  experience  with  the  open 
turbulence  of  the  South  exactly  unfitted  him  for  secret  machina- 
tions in  Utah.  These  facts  explain  the  difficulties  which  beset 
him  on  his  accession  to  the  governorship. 

With  Governor  Shaffer  began  the  executive  reform  in  Utah. 
Governor  Vaughan  might  have  preceded  him ;  he  was  utterly 
unable  to  succeed  him.  Governor  Shaffer  was  at  once  genial 
and  firm,  cautious  and  active.  As  much  as  he  was  respected  by 
the  American  people  in  Utah,  he  was  even  more  beloved  in  his 
private  and  social  capacity.  He  was  so  frank  in  all  his  con- 
versations with  the  priesthood  that  they  could  not  accuse  him 
of  hostility  to  them  as  a  people ;  and  so  kind  to  all  who  came 
in  his  way  that  even  the  Mormons  were  almost  compelled  to 
like  him,  notwithstanding  it  was  their  religious  duty  to  hate 
him. 

Consumption  had  already  made  great  inroads  upon  his  con- 
stitution, and,  though  for  a  while  he  seemed  to  revive  in  our 
stimulating  air,  before  autumn  it  was  evident  that  his  days  were 
numbered.  Yet  to  the  last  his  mind  was  active  in  furtherance 
of  liberal  principles,  and  his  last  public  utterance  was,  "As  long 
as  I  can  raise  my  hand,  you  shall  have  my  assistance  for  the 
right."  The  great  event  of  his  administration  was  his  procla- 


AND    CRIMES    OF    MORMONISM.  425 

mation  abolishing  the  Nauvoo  Legion.  This  disloyal  organiza- 
tion had  been  so  constituted  by  the  Mormons  as  to  supersede 
the  governor  as  commander-in-chief.  All  previous  governors 
had  quietly  submitted  to  this,  and  one  had  actually  walked  in 
procession  with  it  on  the  annual  parade  day,  behind  Brigham 
Young,  who  rode  at  its  head !  Governor  Shaffer  declared 
himself  commander-in-chief  under  the  organic  act,  and  forbade 
the  militia  to  assemble. 

Soon  after  a  few  of  the  United  States  soldiers  stationed  at 
Provo,  while  on  a  drunken  spree,  attacked  and  severely  beat 
several  citizens  of  that  town.  This  was  seized  upon  by  the 
Mormon  press  and  put  forth  as  proof,  together  with  the  pro- 
clamation, of  a  conspiracy  to  "disarm  the  Mormon  people  and 
have  them  murdered  by  mobs." 

An  investigation  showed  that  none  of  the  officers  counte- 
nanced the  raid ;  the  soldiers  were  severely  punished,  and 
enough  of  their  pay  withheld  to  recompense  the  citizens  for 
damages  to  property.  At  the  same  time,  with  the  foregoing 
proclamation,  a  general  order  was  issued  appointing  General  P. 
E.  Connor,  Major-General  of  the  Utah  Militia,  and  Colonel 
William  M.  Johns,  Adjutant-General.  "Lieutenant-General" 
D.  H.  Wells  protested  against  the  governor's  action,  and  much 
angry  controversy  followed,  but  no  attempt  was  then  made  to 
violate  the  proclamation.  .  Governor  Shaffer  died  on  the  31st 
day  of  October,  1870,  universally  lamented.  His  brief  ad- 
ministration had  done  much  for  Utah.  Being  human  he  had 
his  faults,  but  had  filled  the  position  with  more  honor  than  any 
of  his  predecessors.  Immediately  on  his  death  President  Grant 
telegraphed  the  appointment  of  Secretary  Vaughan  as  gover- 
nor, and  George  A.  Black,  the  late  Governor's  private  secretary, 
as  secretary  of  the  Territory.  The  appointment  of  Governor 
Vaughan  was  severely  criticised  by  Republican  journals  all 


4S6  POLYGAMY;   OB,   THE   MYSTERIES 

over  the  country.  Much  of  their  adverse  comment  I  know  to 
have  been  unjust,  but  its  effect  was,  in  connection  with  matters 
of  a  social  nature  in  Salt  Lake  City,  to  leave  the  new  governor 
without  moral  support. 

Almost  at  the  same  time  with  the  abolition  of  the  Nauvoo 
Legion  the  question  as  to  who  should  empanel  juries  for  the 
District  Courts  came  to  a  decision.  In  the  fall  of  1869,  on  his 
first  sitting  at  Provo,  Judge  Hawley  took  the  United  States 
Marshal  with  him  from  Salt  Lake,  and  directed  him  to  em- 
panel the  jury.  Great  comment  was  thereby  excited,  but  the 
affairs  of  that  district  being  of  little  moment,  the  matter  was 
not  fully  contested.  In  the  summer  of  1870,  Judge  Strick- 
land, sitting  at  Salt  Lake,  in  the  absence  of  the  Chief  Justice, 
issued  his  order  for  a  venire  to  Colonel  M.  T.  Patrick,  United 
States  Marshal,  who  proceeded  to  summon  grand  and  petit 
juries  composed  of  Gentiles  and  such  Mormons  as  were  known 
to  be  of  independent  action. 

This  was  contested  first  in  the  case  of  Hiram  Clawson  et  cd. 
vs.  Union  Pacific  Railroad  Co.;  then  in  the  cases  of  Godbe  & 
Oo.  vs.  Salt  Lake  City,  and  People  vs.  Thurston;  but  only 
reached  a  final  decision  in  the  case  of  Engelbrecht  et  al.  vs.  Jeter 
Clinton  et  al.  This  is  a  cause  celebre  in  Utah  affairs.  The 
principal  plaintiff,  Paul  Engelbrecht,  was  a  wholesale  and 
retail  liquor  dealer,  who  protested  against  the  excessive  license 
required  by  the  City  Council  of  Salt  Lake  City,  and  their  un- 
equal modes  of  imposing  it  on  different  dealers.  He  declined 
to  pay,  was  prosecuted  by  the  city,  and  appealed  to  the  District 
Court,  designing  to  test  the  matter. 

Pending  the  decision,  Alderman  Jeter  Clinton,  acting  as 
Police  Magistrate,  issued  a  warrant  against  Engelbrecht's  place 
as  a  nuisance.  The  police  entered  the  store  at  seven  o'clock  in 
the  morning,  broke  the  bottles,  burst  open  the  barrels,  and 


AND   CRIMES   OF    MOBMONI8M.  427 

poured  the  entire  stock  into  the  street.  Whiskey  ran  down 
the  gutters  in  great  streams,  and  vast  quantities  of  the  finest 
champagne  and  other  imported  liquors  were  destroyed  or  car- 
ried off  by  street  Arabs.  The  stock  was  estimated  at  $18,000. 
This  was  practically  a  claim  that  a  magistrate  whose  jurisdic- 
tion was  limited  to  $100,  could  order  the  destruction  of  prop- 
erty of  any  amount.  Suit  was  brought  by  Engelbrecht  and 
partners  against  Clinton,  and  this  was  the  first  case  argued 
before  the  new  Chief  Justice,  McKean.  I  never  knew  a  case 
to  excite  more  intense  interest.  It  involved  the  whole  future 
of  Utah.  Decided  against  the  United  States  Marshal,  and  we 
were  once  more  under  Mormon  law,  and  Mormon  administra- 
tion; in  his  favor,  and  we  had  an  impartial  tribunal  to  which 
we  could  appeal  without  dread  of  church  coercion  and  Mor- 
mon juries.  After  three  days'  further  examination  the  Chief 
Justice  rendered  an  able  decision,  sustaining  the  panel,  and 
pronouncing  this  a  United  States  Court  in  its  entirety  from 
judge,  to  ministerial  officer.  The  writer  is  not  competent  to 
treat  the  legal  principles  involved  in  the  case;  they  affect  the 
whole  of  Federal  rule  in  the  Territories,  the  practice  of  United 
States  Courts  for  eighty  years,  and  the  construction  of  a  volume 
of  statutes  at  large.  The  Mormons  appealed  to  the  Supreme 
Court  of  the  United  States ;  but  for  nearly  two  years  Judge 
McKean's  decision  was  law  in  Utah,  and  they  were  two  years 
of  marvelous  progress  in  liberal  ideas. 

Early  in  1871  Governor  Vaughan  was  removed.  General 
Silas  Strickland,  of  Omaha,  was  named  for  the  place  by  Presi- 
dent Grant,  but  not  confirmed  by  the  Senate.  Then  Hon. 
George  L.  Woods,  previously  Governor  of  Oregon,  was  ap- 
pointed and  confirmed.  The  courts  had  been  reformed,  but 
the  priesthood  were  not  at  the  end  of  their  resources  by  several 
points.  The  mode  they  adopted  to  nullify  these  proceedings 


428  POLYGAMY;   OR,   THE   MYSTERIES 

shows  their  ingenuity  sharpened  by  forty  years'  practice  in 
evading  law.  They  discovered  a  system  which  fitted  their 
purpose  exactly,  and  on  this  wise :  In  the  start  of  Territorial 
legislation,  Congress  most  absurdly  inaugurated  the  plan  of 
paying,  not  its  own  agents  and  employes — to  wit:  attendants 
on  the  United  States  Courts — but  of  paying  the  Territorial 
Legislatures,  and  leaving  them  to  provide  from  Territorial 
funds  for  the  courts.  How  this  came  about  is  scarcely  known, 
probably  by  mere  oversight.  The  United  States  Judges' 
salaries  alone  were  paid  from  the  National  Treasury. 

All  the  expenses  of  the  courts  were  to  come  from  the  Terri- 
tory, which,  however,  was  not  to  pay  its  own  legislative  body, 
but  had  it  paid  from  Washington.  Exactly  the  reverse  pro- 
cess should  have  been  adopted.  In  other  Territories,  where 
the  people  and  Federal  officials  are  of  the  same  race,  and  sub- 
stantially the  same  interests,  and  where  all  church  governments 
are  held  subordinate  to  the  civil  power,  this  little  matter  was 
of  no  moment ;  but  Utah  is  an  exception.  There  it  is  the 
main  business  of  church  officials  to  hinder  and  harass  national 
officials  and  block  the  wheels  of  government  as  far  as  may  be, 
using  every  means  to  accustom  their  people  only  to  the  idea  of 
a  church  administration. 

The  expenses  of  United  States  Courts  have  been  provided 
for  in  various  ways  by  different  Territories.  In  Utah  the 
practice  had  been  for  the  Territorial  Marshal,  after  having  paid 
witnesses,  jurors  and  officers,  to  present  the  account  at  the  next 
meeting  of  the  Legislature,  which  passed  what  they  called  a 
"  Relief  Bill ; "  and  the  money  was  handed  over  to  the  Mar- 
shal. This  unique  system  was  only  a  part  of  that  general  plan 
which  underlies  all  the  statutes  of  Utah  to  keep  everything 
consolidated  in  the  hands  of  the  priesthood,  the  same  men 
holding  the  office  of  Marshal,  Treasurer,  Warden,  etc.,  year 


AND   CRIMES   OF   MORMON1SM.  429 

after  year,  seldom  dying  and  never  resigning.  I  say  the  Terri- 
torial Marshal  paid  attendants  on  the  courts,  because  his  returns 
so  report;  but  many  old  Mormons  testify  they  got  nothing. 
If  they  knew  their  rights  and  asked  for  it,  they  were  answered, 
"O,  you  must  donate  that  much  time  for  the  good  of  the  com- 
munity." The  money  was  appropriated  and  handed  over — the 
vouchers  and  records  show  it — but  Brigham  and  the  Marshal 
alone  knew  where  it  went. 

Thus  stood  affairs  during  the  winter  of  1870-71 :  the  Gen- 
tiles had  the  courts,  the  Mormons  had  the  money.  The  inter- 
esting question  was:  Which  is  ahead?  In  the  spring  Nevada 
came  over  to  run  Utah.  Hon.  Thomas  Fitch  of  that  State 
had  been  defeated  in  his  second  race  for  Congress ;  so  he  came  to 
Utah  as  attorney  for  the  Mormons.  Senator  Stewart  and  other 
Nevada  politicians  made  heavy  investments  in  Utah  mines;  liti- 
gation multiplied  as  to  mining  titles  and  Judge  McKean  did  not 
rule  to  suit  Nevada.  The  decisions  of  that  State  lay  all  stress 
on  primary  occupation  in  the  title  to  mines;  the  Judge  followed 
older  English  and  New  York  decisions  in  which  equal  regard 
is  had  to  possessory  rights,  present  occupation  and  expenditure 
in  working. 

Parties  who  had  entered  and  abandoned,  three  years  before, 
mines  afterward  developed  and  shown  to  be  valuable,  preferred 
their  claims  as  original  occupants.  The  great  Emma  mine, 
worth  two  or  three  millions,  became  a  power  in  our  judicial 
imbroglio.  The  Chief- Justice,  in  various  rulings,  favored  the 
present  occupants.  Nevada  called  upon  Senator  Stewart,  who 
agreed  to  go  straight  to  Long  Branch  and  see.  that  McKean 
was  removed.  But  Ulysses  the  Silent,  when  the  matter  was 
broached,  slanted  his  cigar  on  the  downward  negative,  and 
promptly  made  reply  that  if  Judge  McKean  had  committed  no 
greater  fault  than  to  revise  a  little  Nevada  law,  he  was  not 


430  POLYGAHY;    OR,  THE    MYSTERIES 

altogether  unpardonable.     The  guillotine  was  unstained,  and 
the  Judge's  legal  head  still  rested  on  his  judicial  shoulders. 

The  Gentiles  then  made  arrangements  to  contest  the  election 
in  two  or  rhree  counties;  but  the  Legislature  "gerrymandered' 
them  out  of  what  little  chance  they  had.  By  woman-suffrage 
they  had  considerably  more  than  doubled  their  vote,  while  the 
measure  had  not  increased  that  of  the  Gentiles  at  all.  Not 
more  than  one-tenth  of  the  latter  were  women,  and  these  then 
looked  upon  the  system  with  contempt  and  declined  to  vote. 
The  proposition  to  give  women  the  ballot  in  Utah  to  over- 
throw polygamy  had  been  proposed  in  Congress;  the  Mormons 
took  it  up  and  turned  the  tables  handsomely  on  their  enemies. 
Consider  that  four-fifths  of  the  adult  Mormon  women  were 
then  foreigners  of  the  most  ignorant  class;  that  they  were 
bound  body  and  soul  in  the  iron  bands  of  superstition ,  that 
they  literally  belonged  to  the  Mormon  system  in  every  respec-t, 
and  what  earthly  hope  was  there  that  they  would  do  anything 
for  their  own  emancipation?  None  of  the  laws  of  naturaliza- 
tion are  applied  to  women  in  Utah.  All  over  twenty-one  may 
vote,  and  all  under  that  age  who  are  married ;  the  same  strin- 
gent rules  of  church  coercion  are  upon  them  with  tenfold  force, 
and  at  the  elections  the  sickening  sight  is  witnessed  of  polyg- 
amists  marching  their  "women"  to  the  polls  by  couples,  half 
dozens  or  scores,  like  so  many  voting  cattle,  with  ballots  to 
perpetuate  their  own  degradation. 

Here  is  a  woman  who  went  into  polygamy  twenty  years  ago, 
from  sincere  religious  conviction  and  strong  social  pressure; 
she  is  a  "second  wife"  and  the  mother  of  polygamous  children. 
Will  she,  can  she  vote  for  a  measure  to  denounce  polygamy — 
the  only  system  which  confers  even  a  half-respectability  upon 
her  condition?  Will  she  vote  to  stigmatize  the  union  which 
brought  her  children  into  the  world  ?  Will  she  vote  herself  a 


AND   CRIMES   OF    MORMONISM.  431 

cast-off  mistress  and  her  children  bastards  ?  Verily,  no.  For 
the  next  generation  there  is  hope ;  but,  secretly  believing  as 
they  may,  those  in  polygamy  must  defend  it  and  suffer  on. 
They  must  live  in  it — they  must  die  in  it.  We  cannot,  in 
view  of  what  we  see  there,  but  smile  at  the  self-complacent 
folly  of  certain  miscalled  "  woman's  organs,"  when  arguing  on 
the  great  results  to  flow  from  woman  suffrage  in  Utah.  As  if 
such  an  experiment  were  first  to  be  tried  where,  of  all  places  in 
America,  women  are  least  fitted  for  it ;  as  if  there  were  such  a 
thing  as  a  free  ballot  in  Utah,  or  as  if  women  in  Utah  ^ould  be 
anything  else  than  just  what  men  choose  to  make  them. 

While  the  campaign  was  in»rapid  progress,  the  4th  of  July 
came  on,  and  for  novelty's  sake  there  were  two  celebrations, 
each  laboring  to  outdo  the  other  in  declamatory  patriotism. 
The  Liberals  had  proposed  a  joint  general  celebration,  which 
the  priesthood  contemptuously  rejected,  upon  which  the  former 
determined  upon  a  big  Gentile  demonstration.  Great  prepara- 
tions were  making.  It  was  announced  that  three  or  four  thou- 
sand miners  would  be  in  town  on  the  4th,  when  suddenly  an 
order  was  issued  by  "  Lieutenant-General "  Daniel  H.  Wells, 
for  the  Nauvoo  Legion — Mormon  militia-5— to  assemble  on  that 
day.  This  might  mean  nothing — it  might  mean  mischief. 
The  order  of  Wells  bore  date  June  22d,  1871,  but  did  not 
appear  in  public  print  until  the  26th  of  that  month. 

It  created  a  great  sensation,  inasmuch  as  it  was  in  violation 
of  Governor  Shaffer's  proclamation  of  September  15th,  1870. 
Governor  Woods  was  absent  on  public  business,  and  had  pro- 
nounced in  favor  of  sustaining  Governor  Shaffer's  proclama- 
tion. Secretary  George  A.  Black  was  at  that  time  acting 
Governor  of  the  Territory.  On  the  afternoon  of  the  27th,  he 
took  the  train  for  Ogden,  and  telegraphed  the  governor  from 
that  point.  The  governor  promptly  returned  orders  to  permit 


432  POLYGAMY  ;    OR,    THE    MYSTERIES 

no  parade  of  the  Nauvoo  Legion,  and  acting  Governor  Black 
issued  his  proclamation  accordingly.  Then  the  excitement 
rose  to  fever-heat  and  many  anticipated  trouble.  It  was  cur- 
rently reported  on  the  street,  that  Wells  would  turn  out  his 
men  in  spite  of  the  proclamation.  The  Mormon  papers  at- 
tempted to  ridicule  the  proclamation,  and  continued  to  publish 
the  order  of  Wells.  This  certainly  did  look  like  "business;" 
and  being  convinced  that  a  more  decisive  step  was  necessary, 
Governor  Black  officially  notified  General  De  Trobriand,  in 
command  at  Camp  Douglas,  to  have  his  force  in  readiness. 
The  General  promptly  made  answer  that  all  available  troops, 
with  battery  of  artillery,  would  be  in  the  city  on  the  morning 
of  the  4th,  and  at  the  acting  governor's  command.  At  the 
same  time  he  informed  the  Mormon  authorities  of  this  action, 
being  on  particularly  good  terms  with  them. 

Notwithstanding  all  this  the  "Lieutenant-General"  refused 
to  rescind  his  order  of  the  22d,  and  declared  publicly  that  "  he 
would  see  whether  or  not  a  boy  could  come  into  this  Territory 
and  run  it  over  the  heads  of  those  who  had  changed  it  from  a 
desert  to  a  paradise."  This  last  expression  is  the  exordium, 
refrain  and  peroration  of  almost  every  Mormon  speech,  argu- 
ment, sermon  and  State  paper.  He  informed  the  Gentile 
attorneys  that  he  "  had  taken  good  counsel  on  this  matter,  and 
he  reckoned  such  men  as  Stewart,  Fitch,  etc.,  ought  to  know 
something  about  law  and  justice ;  he  would  bring  out  his  men 
and  parade  them  under  arms,  and  if  this  boy  attempted  to 
interfere  with  him,  the  consequences  should  be  on  his  head." 
It  was  then  represented  to  Governor  Black,  that  Wells  might 
violate  the  proclamation  on  the  grounds  of  not  officially  know- 
ing that  it  existed.  Determined  to  leave  nothing  undone 
whereby  he  could  have  a  color  of  exoneration,  the  governor 
addressed  the  following  to  Marshal  Patrick : 


AND  CRIMES  OF  MORMONISM.  433 

"  UTAH  TERRITORY,  SECRETARY'S  OFFICE, 

"SALT  LAKE  CITY,  June  3d,  1871. 
"CoL.  M.  T.  PATRICK,  U.  8.  Marshal,  U.  T. 

"Sir: — I  have  the  honor  to  request  that  you  call  the  atten- 
tion of  Daniel  H.  Wells,  of  this  city  and  county,  to  the  inclosed 
proclamation.      An   acknowledgment    from   him    that    he   is 
aware  of  its  existence  and  purport  is  all  that  I  desire. 
"  I  am,  sir,  yours  truly, 

"GEORGE  A.  BLACK,  Acting  Governor,  U.  T" 

This  was  served  upon  Mr.  Wells  by  Captain  Paul,  Deputy 
United  States  Marshal,  about  10  o'clock  on  the  morning  of  the 
3d.  The  captain  handed  him  a  printed  copy  of  the  proclama- 
tion, and  then  read  him  the  letter,  whereupon  Mr.  Wells  an- 
swered that  he  had  seen  it,  read  it,  and  knew  its  purport.  On 
the  afternoon  of  the  3d,  the  popular  excitement  had  become  so 
great  that  a  council  of  the  officials  was  called.  General  Mor- 
row and  Major  Hempstead  were  delegated  as  spokesmen,  and 
asked  the  governor  if  he  was  fully  determined  on  enforcing  the 
terms  of  the  proclamation.  They  were  answered  in  the  affirma- 
tive. A  committee  was  then  appointed,  consisting  of  Generals 
Morrow  and  De  Trobriand,  Major  Hempstead  and  Colonel 
Patrick,  to  call  on  Wells  and  notify  him  of  this  determination, 
and  at  the  same  time  assure  him  that  he  was  acting  in  violation 
of  the  laws,  and  bloodshed  would  ensue  if  his  illegal  orders 
were  carried  out,  as  the  United  States  troops  would  disperse 
any  unlawful  parade  of  armed  militiamen.  To  this  Wells 
replied  haughtily,  and  again  asserted  that  he  had  taken  good 
counsel,  and  knew  what  he  was  doing.  He  even  went  so  far 
as  to  suggest  that  the  governor's  proclamation  be  withdrawn. 
To  this  the  committee  promptly  remarked  that  they  did  not 
come  from  the  governor,  that  they  were  acting  in  the  interest 
28 


484  POLYGAMY. 

of  peace,  and  tnat  the  proclamation  was  not  at  all  likely  to  b« 
changed  or  recalled. 

The  troops  marched  into  the  city  on  the  morning  of  the  4th 
with  their  bayonets  fixed,  and  one  hundred  rounds  of  cartridge 
to  the  man.  They  were  headed  by  the  full  regimental  band. 
The  timid  smelt  "  blood  in  the  air,"  and  the  word  went  round 
among  the  miners — "It's  coming  to  a  head  this  time,  sure 
enough."  But  at  the  last  moment  the  priesthood  weakened, 
and  late  on  the  evening  of  the  3d,  Wells  published  notice  that 
the  order  for  drill  was  countermanded,  and  the  4th  passed  in 
peace. 

Thus  ended  the  last  affair  in  which  the  Mormons  threatened 
resistance  or  bloodshed.  For  twenty-four  years  they  had  bui 
Hed  the  nation  or  frightened  the  officials  into  backing  down ;  a 
firm  display  of  official  nerve  was  enough  to  end  that  forever, 
and  since  that  day  they  have  only  threatened  flight  and  confla- 
gration. The  Gentile  procession  was  a  splendid  affair,  consist- 
ing of  the  usual  outfit  of  ladies'  car  and  flags,  followed  by 
wagons  hauling  specimens  of  ore  from  every  mine  in  Utah,  and 
stacks  of  rich  bullion;  behind  marched  a  thousand  or  more 
miners,  who  had  come  armed  in  expectation  of  "something 
turning  up."  In  the  city  the  priesthood  confined  themselves  to 
mild  protests,  but  in  the  country  districts,  where  the  people  are 
less  enlightened,  and  consequently  more  thoroughly  Mormon, 
the  heaviest  vials  of  eloquence  and  Wrath  were  poured  upon  the 
head  of  Governor  Black,  and  the  whole  history  of  "God's 
chosen  people  "  was  fought  over  again,  and  Scripture  precedents 
exhausted  for  the  "  Federal  tyrant."  He  was  a  Gentile  gov- 
ernor oppressing  the  Holy  Land — an  Amalekite,  hindering  the 
march  of  Israel ;  he  was  Pharaoh  enslaving  God's  chosen ;  he 
was  Herod  thirsting  for  innocent  blood ;  he  was  Pilate  crucify- 
ing tht  Lord  afresh.  "Liberty  was  struck  bleeding  to  the 


\435) 


436  POLYGAMY ;     OR,    THE   MYSTERIES 

earth  "  in  the  persons  of  the  militia,  and  forty  thousand  vials  of 
wrath  were  about  to  burst  upon  the  head  of  the  nation  which 
upheld  the  act.  The  prophets  reopened  Daniel  and  Revela- 
tions, and  proved  another  civil  war  within  ten  years ;  all  our 
cities  were  to  become  waste,  and  Washington,  I  was  particu- 
larly informed,  was  to  be  sown  with  salt  and  rooted  up  by 
swine.  Imagine  all  the  superstitious  and  religiously  diseased 
minds  of  the  world  gathered  into  one  community,  each  aggra- 
vating the  others'  infirmity,  controlled  by  a  gang  of  swindling 
and  renegade  Yankees,  and  fed  upon  such  stuff  as  the  above, 
muttering  dark  prophecies  against  "Edom,"  and  looking  for 
the  speedy  downfall  of  our  Government,  and  you  will  have  a 
pretty  correct  idea  of  Utah  as  it  then  was. 

The  whole  year  of  1871  was  full  of  excitement  and  startling 
rumors.  The  author,  being  then  a  single  man  of  much  leisure, 
mingled  a  great  deal  in  that  society  composed  of  Gentiles  and 
liberal  or  "  Hickory  "  Mormons — mainly  the  younger  ones  of 
both  sexes.  Their  condition  was  far  from  enviable.  They 
longed  even  more  ardently  than  the  Gentiles  to  see  the  Terri- 
tory liberalized ;  but  almost  every  one  of  them  had  near  rela- 
tives in  danger,  if  Judge  McKean's  rulings  were  to  be  sus- 
tained. Here,  for  instance,  was  a  young  lady  of  considerable 
beauty  and  accomplishments,  daughter  of  a  legal  wife  and 
thoroughly  liberal  in  her  views,  who  had  a  polygamous  born 
half-brother  in  hiding  from  the  courts ;  here  a  widow  of  some 
Mormon  elder,  herself  intensely  liberal,  with  one  or  more 
daughters  in  polygamy,  and  here  again  a  divorced  wife  of  some 
polygamist  married  to  a  "  blood  drinker"  Gentile!  It  was  al- 
together the  most  curiously  composite  and  heterogeneous  society 
I  ever  entered,  and  even  now  I  marvel  that  the  young  ladies 
fd  do  the  honors  and  preserve  the  social  courtesies  as  well  as 
they  did.  Imagine  a  maiden  trying  to  entertain  two  rivals*. 


AND   CRIMES   OF    MORMONISM.  437 

one  a  violent  anti-Mormon,  the  other  a  "  Hickory  "  and  apolo- 
gist !  This  difficulty  will  henceforth  thwart  the  courts  in  Utah 
under  any  law  that  can  be  framed ;  and  no  matter  what  the 
native  Territorians  may  think  of  their  older  relatives,  they  will 
never  aid  in  bringing  them  to  prison  or  the  scaffold.  That  at- 
tempt, indeed  all  prosecutions  for  crimes  committed  years  ago, 
may  as  well  be  abandoned. 

Late  in  1871  the  Mormons  became  convinced  that  they  had 
little  to  hope  from  the  Government ;  so  they  fell  back  on  the 
proposition  hinted  at  by  Mr.  Colfax  in  1865,  and  offered,  on 
condition  of  having  Utah  admitted  as  a  State,  to  adopt  a  Con- 
stitution rigidly  prohibiting  bigamy  and  polygamy.  They  have 
a  convenient  revelation  for  such  tricks  as  this,  which  says: 
"  Whatsoever  I  command  you,  if  so  be  that  your  enemies  come 
upon  you,  that  you  be  not  able  to  do  that  I  command  you,  I 
will  hold  you  guiltless."  They  now  issued  a  manifesto  that 
they  would  abandon  polygamy,  and  that  in  due  time  the 
United  States  would  recognize  the  wrong  it  had  done  and  per- 
mit them  to  "  live  their  religion."  Of  course  the  whole  scheme 
was  a  swindle.  Of  course  they  would  have  come  into  the 
Union  with  a  monogamous  Constitution,  and  when  endowed 
with  full  statehood  have  amended  the  instrument.  Their 
Nevada  allies  were  now  of  great  use  to  them,  and  the  Constitu- 
tional Convention  really  had  an  appearance  of  liberality;  it 
contained  several  Gentiles,  being  the  first  who  ever  sat  in  any 
such  body  in  Utah.  This  convention  rapidly  constructed  a 
"Constitution  of  the  State  of  Deseret,"  and  all  the  early 
months  of  1872  were  devoted  to  a  fight  over  this.  At  first 
Congress  and  the  American  people  seemed  captivated  by  the 
idea ;  and  the  author  and  many  others  hurried  eastward  to  avert 
the  calamity,  as  they  considered  it. 

The  danger  involved  in  a  Mormon  State  was  so  great  that 


438 


POLYGAMY;    OR,    THE   MYSTERIES 


the  Gentiles  worked  as  I  never  knew  them  to  work  before,  for- 
warding remonstrances  against  it  with  several  thousand  signa- 
tures. A  few  liberal  Mormons  signed  these  petitions,  among 
them  forty  women.  The  Mormon  delegate  at  Washington  sent 
back  a  list  of  these  names,  and  the  Deseret  News  published 
them,  with  the  customary  Mormon  threat,  that  when  their  day 


LOBBYING   AGAINST  "DESERET. 


of  triumph  came  "  this  people  would  remember  the  traitors  who 
had  joined  those  who  are  fighting  against  God  and  his  people." 
The  ecclesiastical  machinery  was  at  once  set  in  motion,  and  each 
district  was  canvassed  by  elders  and  ward  teachers  to  call  the 
signers  to  account.  Recantations,  denials,  and  confessions  fol- 
lowed rapidly;  nearly  all  the  Mormons  who  had  signed  the 


AND  CRIMES  OF   MORMONI8M.  4S9 

protests  plead  the  "  Baby  Act,"  that  they  did  not  understand 
the  full  import  of  what  they  had  signed,  and  very  few  stood 
firm.  These  few  were  at  once  "  cut  off."  The  error  of  those 
who  imagine  that  in  the  cause  of  moral  reform  women  are  any 
braver  or  more  persistent  than  men,  was  fully  made  manifest  in 
the  issue. 

But  woman-suffrage  had  a  much  fairer  trial  in  the  election  of 
August,  1872,  when  the  Church  nominated  Apostle  George  Q. 
Cannon,  the  husband  of  four  "  women."  His  opponent  was 
General  G.  R.  Maxwell,  who  served  with  distinction  in  the 
late  war.  Not  one  Mormon  woman  voted  for  the  law-abiding 
man  against  the  polygamist.  Married  girls  and  boys,  unnatu- 
ralized  foreigners  and  other  disfranchised  classes,  voted  at  will ; 
and,  out  of  a  total  population  of  90,000,  the  Mormon  vote  was 
24,000.  The  Gentiles  cast  a  vote  of  over  3,000.  But  the 
wisest  man  cannot  tell  what  the  legal  vote  of  Utah  is.  Apostle 
Cannon,  living  in  violation  of  national  law,  a  man  whose  social 
theory  and  practice  is  an  insult  to  womanhood,  long  occupied  a 
seat  in  Congress  by  the  votes  of  11,000  women ! 

A  digression  is  allowable  here,  as  woman-suffrage  in  Utah  is 
much  discussed.  Is  there  no  moral  to  be  drawn  from  the 
unanimity  with  which  the  women  of  each  class  vote  with  the 
men  ?  Our  theorists  may  urge  in  reply  that  the  instance  is  not 
a  fair  one ;  that  the  women  of  Utah  are  degraded,  and  not  free 
to  vote  at  will.  But  they  are  no  more  degraded  than  the  men. 
Both  suffer  the  results  of  an  unnatural  system,  and  though 
both  are  far  below  a  correct  social  plane,  yet  the  relative  posi- 
tions of  the  sexes  are  just  the  same  there  as  elsewhere.  The 
identity  of  interests  between  them  in  each  class,  as  far  as  those 
interests  can  be  established  or  changed  by  law,  is  too  fixed  for 
the  one  sex  to  vote  generally  against  the  wish  of  the  other. 
If  the  women  of  Utah,  or  even  a  bare  majority  of  them, 


440  POLYGAMY. 

oppose  polygamy,  it  is  bound  to  perish  ere  long,  sooner  than 
law  can  crush  it ;  if  they  favor  it,  their  vote  of  course  will  go 
to  strengthen  it.  The  mutual  dependence  of  men  and  women 
is  an  order  with  very  rare  exceptions,  and  even  those  excep- 
tions are  such  as  must  inevitably  prevent  the  women  from 
enforcing  a  legal  dictum.  Husbands,  fathers,  and  brothers  are 
divisible  into  two  classes :  the  chivalrous  and  kindly,  the  large 
majority  who  would  disdain  to  dictate  the  vote  of  wifec 
daughter,  or  sister;  and  the  few  brutal  and  tyrannical  who 
would  coerce  the  women  within  their  power  in  this,  as  they  do 
in  everything  else.  And  similarly  of  the  ladies :  those  whose 
lot  is  cast  with  the  first  class  could  have  no  interests  contrary 
to  those  of  their  male  companions,  while  the  few  "  subjected  " 
women,  though  they  might  need  a  free  vote,  would  certainly 
never  have  it.  Not  that  such  men  would  generally  maltreat 
their  wives  for  political  differences,  and  so  come  within  the  just 
cognizance  of  law.  A  grea(  fool,  as  well  as  a  great  brute, 
must  that  man  be  who  can  find  no  safer  and  more  certain  way 
of  subjecting  a  woman  than  by  violence.  Of  that  small  num- 
ber who  tyrannize  over  their  wives,  those  who  do  so  by  brute 
strength  are  not  as  one  in  ten ;  they  do  not,  in  our  state  of  civ- 
ilization, make  one  in  a  thousand  o'f  the  male  population  ;  and 
if  these  were  all  we  had  to  consider,  we  could  easily  settle  the 
matter  by  a  just  and  judicious  hanging.  Subjection  is  easy  far 
short  of  physical  violence.  And  as  to  the  just  and  generous, 
every  man  of  experience  knows,  that  with  ninety-nine  women 
out  of  a  hundred,  he  who  grants  most  and  most  persistently 
refuses  the  exercise  of  power,  gains  the  most  complete  ascend- 
ency ;  for  it  is  an  empire  over  the  mind  as  well  as  the  body. 
Let  the  state  of  society  be  what  it  may,  women  must  trust  men 
in  every  department  of  life.  A  Mormon  woman  is  just  as 
much  in  the  power  of  a  Mormon  man  as  a  Gentile  woman  in 


(441) 


442  POLYGAMY;    OR,    THE    MYSTERIES 

that  of  a  Gentile  man ;  no  more  and  no  less.  They  must  trust 
men  to  work  for  them,  guard  them,  fight  for  them,  love,  marry, 
and  take  care  of  them,  just  as  much  in  one  state  of  society  as 
another;  and,  as  these  things  make  up  nine  hundred  and 
ninety-nine  thousandths  of  the  affairs  of  life,  it  would  seem 
that  the  little  remnant  dependent  on  voting  is  not  worth  a 
refusal  to  trust. 

But  before  the  "  Deseret "  denouement  the  McKean  courts 
and  juries  were  overthrown  by  the  Supreme  Court  of  the 
United  States.  In  June,  1872,  the  personnel  of  the  Court 
having  been  largely  changed,  the  old  decisions  of  that  Court 
referred  to  were  overruled,  Chief-Justice  Chase,  who  delivered 
the  Court's  opinion,  saying  that,  rightly  understood,  it  did  not 
overrule  them.  In  the  case  of  Hornbuckle  vs.  Toombs  (Octo- 
ber term,  1873),  the  Court,  again  citing  these  old  decisions,  dis- 
sented from  them,  and  acknowledged  it.  "  On  a  careful  review 
of  the  whole  subject,"  said  Mr.  Justice  Bradley,  "  we  are  not 
satisfied  that  those  decisions  are  founded  on  a  correct  view  of 
the  law."  *  At  the  same  time  he  suggested  that  perhaps  further 
legislation  was  needed  on  the  subject,  and  Justices  Davis  and 
Strong  went  on  the  record  as  follows :  "  We  dissent  from  the 
judgments  in  these  cases,  for  the  reason  that  this  Court  has  sev- 
eral times  decided  that  claims  at  law  and  claims  at  equity 
cannot  be  united  in  one  action,  even  in  the  Territorial  Courts. 
And  we  think,  if  a  change  in  the  rule  is  made,  it  should  be 
made  by  Congress."  Thus,  to  overrule  the  Utah  Court,  the 
Supreme  Court  overruled  itself!  These  suggestions,  with  the 
fact  that  Judge  McKean  practically  closed  his  court  (Third 
District)  for  nearly  two  years  after  the  Engelbrecht  decision, 
and  the  strenuous  efforts  of  the  Utah  Gentiles,  secured  the 
passage  of  the  Poland  Bill  in  1874.  It  defined  the  sphere  and 
duties  of  the  Probate  Courts,  abolished  the  Territorial  Marshal 


AND   CRIMES   OF   MOSMONISM.  448 

and  Prosecutor,  and  provided  in  substance  for  juries  naif  Mor- 
mon and  half  Gentile. 

Thus  was  Judge  McKean's  court  overruled ;  but  nothing 
could  undo  the  work  he  had  done  in  pouring  light  on  Mormon 
iniquities,  or  lessen  the  affection  of  the  Gentiles  for  him. 
Many  criticized  his  law;  none  his  life  or  private  character. 
The  Mormons  can  generally  prove  whatever  they  please  against 
a  hated  official ;  but  even  their  practised  mendacity  failed  on 
our  noble  Chief-Justice.  All  allegations  are  now  reduced  to  one : 
that  Judge  McKean  was  so  conscientious  a  hater  of  polygamy 
that  he  was,  perforce,  a  fanatic.  If  a  determined  zeal  for  the 
execution  of  the  law  be  fanaticism,  perhaps  there  is  something  in 
the  charge.  If  there  be  truth  in  it,  fanaticism  of  that  kind 
had  been  so  rare  a  quality  in  Utah  officials,  that  it  may  be  par- 
doned for  this  once.  To  us  he  appeared  as  the  bright  legal  star, 
rising  above  the  troubled  sea  of  doubt  and  misconstruction  in 
which  the  Utah  Judiciary  had  so  long  drifted,  and  marking  the 
course  to  a  haven  of  constitutional  right  and  law-secured  jus- 
tice. Judge  McKean  might  fall ;  he  was  but  one  man ;  but 
the  nation's  sense  of  justice  was  aroused,  and  the  peaceful  rev- 
olution he  inaugurated  will  never  go  backward.  Judge 
McKean  was  the  Christian  lawyer — a  rare  and  beautiful  char- 
acter. To  him,  as  to  that  great  advocate  whose  name,  even  at 
this  distance  of  time,  casts  a  halo  upon  the  profession,  the  law 
was,  indeed,  that  science  "  whose  voice  is  the  harmony  of  the 
world,  her  seat  the  bosom  of  God ;  above  whose  power  the 
greatest  Cannot  rise  or  the  humblest  pass  from  beneath  her  pro- 
tecting arm.' 


144  POLYGAMY;   OR,  THE   MYSTERIES 


CHAPTER    XX. 

UTAH  UNDER  GRANT  II.  AND  HAYES. 

Hie  author's  researches  in  Southern  Utah — John  D.  Lee,  Jacob  Hamlin, 
Bishop  Windsor,  Bishop  Haight  and  other  worthies — Campaign  of  1872 — 
The  Poland  bill — Prosecutions  under  it — Frightful  perjury — Some  polyga- 
mists  convicted  at  last — Renewed  action  against  polygamy — Mrs.  Froiseth's 
Anti-Polygamy  Standard — President  Hayes'  views. 

IN  the  summer  of  1872  I  made  a  long  tour  on  horseback 
through  northern  Arizona,  accompanied  most  of  the  time  by 
one  or  more  Navajo  Indians  of  Ganado  Mucho's  band.  For 
these  gentle  barbarians  I  acquired  such  a  friendship  that  I  was 
really  grieved  when  they  turned  to  the  war-path,  a  few  years 
later.  The  Mormons  were  just  then  making  the  most  active 
exertions  to  extend  their  settlements  down  through  Arizona} 
and  the  more  incautious  ones  said  the  plan  was  to  occupy  all 
the  vacant  valleys  there  and  control  the  Territorial  government, 
as  in  Utah.  This  beautiful  scheme  was  defeated  by  the  rapid 
development  of  Arizona  and  the  rush  of  Gentiles  into  its  new 
and  rich  mining  regions.  But  at  the  time  of  my  tour  the  Mor- 
mon scheme  was  in  full  tide ;  Jacob  Hamlin  had  but  lately 
visited  the  Moqui  towns  of  Pueblo  Indians,  and  taken  thenct 
to  Salt  Lake  City  a  husband  and  wife,  Telashnimki  and  Tuba, 
to  be  converted,  if  possible,  to  Mormonism — at  any  rate  to  help 
maintain  friendly  relations.  The  younger  Mormons  had  been 
"counselled"  to  look  out  for  Navajo  wives,  and  found  the  ad- 
vice much  more  agreeable  than  it  was  in  the  case  of  the  Lemhi 
settlement,  before  referred  to ;  for  the  Navajo  women  are  sur- 


AND   CRIMES   OF   MORMONISM. 


445 


prisingly  handsome  for  Indians,  while  the  charms  of  the  dusky 
maidens  of  Idaho  can  scarcely,  be  contemplated  without  a  shud- 
der. My  Indian  guides  finally  left  me  at  John  Doyle  Lee's, 
on  the  Colorado,  where  I  rested  a  few  days.  Lee  was  then 
known  to  strangers  as  "Major  Doyle/'  and  was  nominally  "cut 
off"  from  the  Mormon  Church,  but  had  charge  of  their  ferry 
over  the  Colorado,  had  still  a  number  of  wives,  and  was  in 
about  as  full  fellowship  as  ever.  Of  course  he  did  not  tell  me 


A   NAA'AJO   INDIAN. 


the  real  reason  of  his  alias,  but  said :  "  I  told  my  wives  to  call 
me  Doyle  to  strangers;  they've  been  kicking  up  such  a  muss 
about  polygamy,  McKean  and  them,  and  I'm  a  man  that's  had 
eighteen  wives ;  but  now  the  Supreme  Court  has  decided  that 
polygamy's  part  of  a  man's  religion,  and  the  law's  got  nothin' 
to  do  with  it ;  it  don't  make  no  difference,  I  reckon." 

I  could  not  have  ventured  to  recur  to  the  real  reason,  if  he 


446  FOLY»AMY;    OR,    THE    MYSTERIES 

had  not  approached  the  subject  himself  soon  after.  Then  I 
hinted,  as  delicately  as  possible,  that  if  it  were  not  disagreeable 
to  him,  I  should  like  to  hear  "  the  true  account  of  that  affair 
which  had  been  the  cause  of  his  name  being  so  prominent."  It 
had  grown  dark,  meanwhile,  and  this  gave  him,  I  thought,  more 
freedom  in  his  talk.  (It  is  to  be  noted  that  he  did  not  know 
my  name  or  business.)  Clearing  his  throat  nervously,  he  began, 
with  many  short  stops  and  repetitions : 


TUBA  AND  TELASHNIMKI. 


"  Well,  suppose  you  mean  that — well,  that  Mountain  Medder 
affair?  Well,  I'll  tell  you  what  is  the  exact  truth  of  it,  as  God 
is  my  Judge,  and  the  why  I  am  out  here  like  an  outlaw — but 
I'm  a  goin'  to  die  like  a  man,  and  not  be  choked  like  a  dog — 
and  why  my  name's  published  all  over  as  the  vilest  man  iu 
Utah,  on  account  of  what  others  did — but  I  never  will  betray 
my  brethren,  no,  never — which  it  is  told  for  a  sworn  fact  that  I 


AND    CRIMES   OF    MORMONISM.  447 

violated  two  girls  as  they  were  kneeling  and  begging  to  me  for 
life ;  but  as  God  is  my  Judge,  and  I  expect  to  stand  before  him, 
it  is  all  an  infernal  lie." 

He  ran  off  this  and  much  more  of  the  sort  with  great  volu- 
bility; then  seemed  to  grow  more  calm,  and  went  on : 

"Now,  sir,  I'll  give  you  the  account  exactly  as  it  stood, 
though  for  years  I've  rested  under  the  most  infamous  charges 
ever  cooked  up  on  a  man.  I've  had  to  move  from  point  to 
point,  and  lost  my  property,  when  I  might  have  cleared  it  up 


NT1 

MOBMONIZED  INDIAN  WOMAN. 

any  time  by  just  saying  who  was  who.  I  could  hav«  proved 
that  I  was  not  there,  but  not  without  bringing  in  other  men  to 
criminate  them.  But  I  wouldn't  do  it.  They  had  trusted  in 
m«,  and  their  motives  were  good  at  the  start,  bad  as  the  thing 
turned  out." 

He  then  gave  a  long  account  of  the  massacre,  denying  all 
participation  in  it  except  as  a  spectator,  and  charging  many 
•rimes  and  outrages  on  the  victims ;  but  as  this  contained  much 


448  POLYGAMY;     OR,    THE    MYSTERIES 

falsehood,  and  I  have  already  given  the  true  account,  I  need 
not  repeat  his  story.  At  sunrise,  July  4th,  I  bade  the  Lees 
good-bye,  and  rode  thirty-five  miles  that  day,  to  Jacob's  Pool. 
Not  far  below  Lee's  place  the  Wasatch  range  leaves  the  river, 
and  thence  westward  for  over  a  hundred  miles  there  is  a  broad 
plateau,  rich  in  bunch-grass  pastures,  with  water  in  a  few  places 
at  the  foot  of  the  mountains.  Jacob's  Pool  is  a  clear  cold 
spring,  sending  out  a  stream  the  size  of  one's  wrist,  which  runs 
two  or  three  hundred  yards  down  the  plain  before  it  disappears. 
The  largest  mountain  streams  in  this  section  never  run  more 
than  a  mile  or  two  on  to  the  plain.  In  some  places  a  channel 
can  be  traced  nearly  to  the  Colorado.  The  Wasatch  here  has 
an  average  elevation  of  five  thousand  feet  above  this  plateau ; 
from  the  mountains  the  country  is  tolerably  level  out  to  the 
river,  which  runs  in  another  narrow  gorge  some  four  thousand 
feet  deep.  There  are  three  places  in  a  hundred  miles  where 
horses  and  footmen  can  get  down  through  side  gulches  to  the 
river. 

John  D.  Lee  had  pre-empted  the  pool,  and  had  his  wife 
Rachel  living  there  in  a  sort  of  brush-tent,  making  butter  and 
cheese  from  a  herd  of  twenty  cows.  She  and  her  son  and 
daughter  of  sixteen  and  eighteen  years  were  the  sole  inhabi- 
tants, no  neighbors  within  less  than  a  day's  ride  either  way. 
Lee's  other  wives  were  scattered  about  on  ranches  farther 
north ;  four  at  Mangrum's  settlement  and  two  others  at  Har- 
mony. One  had  left  him  and  lived  at  Beaver;  another  went 
to  Montana  with  a  Gentile,  and  still  another  was  in  the  States, 
"  living  fancy,  I  reckon,"  said  the  wife  at  the  river,  who  gave 
me  this  information.  There  was  no  room  in  the  tent,  and  Mrs. 
Lee  gave  me  a  straw  tick  out-doors — luxury  enough  for  one 
who  had  slept  with  only  a  blanket  between  him  and  the 
ground  for  many  weeks;  and  at  this  oasis  I  rested  a  day  and  a 
half. 


AND   CRIMES   OF    MORMONISM.  449 

Men  disposed  to  apologize  for  polygamy  should  have  seen 
this  place  and  family:  the  forlorn  old  woman,  the  lonely,  un- 
educated young  woman  and  boy;  the  brush-covered  "wickiup" 
and  the  scant  fare  of  milk  and  cheese,  with  an  allowance  of  one 
biscuit  per  meal  to  each  person.  Here  was  a  man  with  eleven 
wives,  scattered  about  on  ranches  like  so  many  cattle.  Let  the 
man  be  ever  so  good  and  kind,  ten  of  these  women  must  be 
living  as  widows  all  the  time,  and  their  children  as  orphans. 
One  of  the  strongest  and  oftenest  repeated  arguments  of  the 
Mormons  is,  that  polygamy  is  much  less  an  evil  than  the 
Gentile  prostitution.  I  flatly  confess  that  I  don't  think  so. 
Prostitution  stops  with  the  one  victim,  polygamy  rears  a  gen- 
eration to  suffer  its  evils;  prostitution  affects  only  the  guilty; 
the  direst  woes  of  polygamy  fall  on  the  innocent — the  women 
and  children;  the  former  takes  one  in  a  hundred,  the  latter 
degrades  the  whole  sex,  and  bad  as  prostitution  is,  the  other  i? 
far  worse. 

Thence  I  rode  westward  about  seventy  miles,  camped  out 
two  nights,  and  on  a  beautiful  Sunday  morning  rode  into  the 
Mormon  town  of  Kanab — the  most  remote  settlement  in  that 
direction.  Kanab  sits  back  in  a  cove  of  the  mountains,  where 
a  strong  stream  supplies  irrigation  to  three  or  four  sections  of 
fertile  land.  I  went  to  the  house  of  Jacob  Hamlin  and  stopped 
for  two  days'  rest.  I  was  most  fortunate  in  my  selection. 
Three  of  Major  Powell's  men  were  here,  waiting  for  his  arrival 
from  Salt  Lake  City.  Here,  also,  I  found  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Thomson,  of  Major  Powell's  party,  so  altogether  we  had  a  very 
delightful  little  Gentile  society  in  this  Mormon  stronghold. 
Hamlin,  who  is  a  church  agent  of  Indian  Affairs,  struck  in  on 
the  subject  of  Mormonism  the  first  meal;  but  as  I  was  once 
more  in  the  land  of  beef  and  biscuit,  hot  coffee  and  other  luxu- 
ries, I  could  stand  up  to  any  amount  of  argument.  We  had 
29 


450  POLYGAMY;   OR,    THE    MYSTERIES 

the  same,  hot  and  lively,  for  two  days,  but  parted  friends. 
For  the  first,  and  I  hope  the  last,  time  in  my  life  I  was  trav- 
elling under  an  alias.  The  Saints  of  Southern  Utah  might 
have  a  prejudice  against  me,  so  I  went  by  my  middle  name, 
and  was  known  to  the  people  as  "  Mr.  Hanson." 

From  Kanab  a  half  day's  ride  brought  me  to  Pipe 
Springs,  where  is  a  ranche  kept  by  Bishop  Windsor  and  one 
of  his  families.  I  found  the  bishop  a  good  landlord,  and 
chatty,  agreeable  companion.  The  spring  from  which  the 
place  takes  its  name  sends  down  a  large  stream  of  cold,  clear 
water,  which  the  bishop  leads  in  stone  troughs  through  his 
houses,  using  one  of  them  for  a  cheese  factory.  He  milks 
eighty  cows,  and  makes  the  business  a  splendid  success.  All 
this  section  is  rich  in  pasture,  but  has  so  little  arable  land  that 
most  of  the  few  inhabitants  have  to  import  their  flour,  paying 
for  it  in  butter  and  cheese.  Even  with  this  large  stream  the 
bishop  can  cultivate  but  fifteen  acres,  the  porous,  sandy  soil  re- 
quiring five  times  as  much  irrigation  as  the  land  around  Salt 
Lake  City.  The  place  is  just  outside  the  rim  of  the  Great 
Basin,  and  the  country  about  of  the  same  level  as  that  within. 
From  the  foot  of  the  mountain  range  along  which  we  travel 
the  surface  slopes  a  very  little  toward  the  Colorado,  but  near 
that  river  rises  again  to  a  height  above  that  along  the  road. 

Thence  the  next  afternoon  I  traversed  a  sandy  desert  for 
twenty-five  miles,  reached  the  first  pool  and  took  supper,  then 
rode  nine  miles  further  by  dark,  and  made  a  "dry  camp"  in  a 
low,  grassy  valley  between  two  wooded  hills.  Thence  I 
reached  Gould's  Ranche  (ten  miles)  in  time  for  a  late  break- 
fast and  another  hot  argument  on  politics.  The  church  was 
then  straining  every  nerve  to  get  Utah  admitted  as  a  State,  the 
Gentiles  fighting  the  proposition  with  the  bitterness  of  despera- 
tion, and  all  Southern  Utah  was  hot  over  the  matter. 


AND   CBIME8   OF    MOKMONISM. 


461 


That  day  I  mistook  the  road,  but  did  not  regret  my  error 
when  it  led  me  to  the  beautiful  hamlet  of  Virgin  City.  The 
neat,  white  adobe  houses  were  almost  hidden  in  forests  of  peach, 
fig,  apple,  and  mulberry  trees;  the  climate  rivaled  that  of 
Southern  California,  and  damsons,  apricots,  and  pears  also 
abounded.  All  that  part  of  Mormondom  south  of  the  rim  of 
the  Great  Basin  is  called  Dixie,  and  produces  cotton,  wine  and 


MORMON  MISSIONARY  AMONG  THE  INDIANS. 

figs.  And  here  I  first  began  to  be  conscious  of  the  oddity  of 
my  dress.  At  Defiance,  to  avoid  being  too  conspicuous  among 
the  Indians,  I  had  dressed  in  a  buckskin  suit,  with  spangled 
Mexican  jacket,  stout  moccasins  handsomely  worked,  beaded 
scarf,  and  flowered  calico  head-wrap;  so,  at  a  distance,  I  was 
everywhere  taken  for  an  Indian.  Marriage  with  Indian 
women  is  a  strong  point  in  the  religion  of  these  Southern  Mor- 
mons, and  the  men  were  delighted  with  my  description  of  the 
grace,  beauty,  and  general  desirableness  of  Navajo  girls,  with 
which  tribe  they  were  then  seeking  an  alliance. 


4  -V2  •  p(  >  i .  v  < ;  A  MY;  OR,  TH  E  MY  ST  E  R  i  ES 

My  next  journey  was  to  Toquerville,  where  I  stopped  with 
Bishop  Isaac  C.  Haight,  another  leader  in  the  Mountain  Mead- 
ows Massacre,  and  a  prominent  Mormon.  Ripe  tigs,  just 
plucked  from  the  tree,  formed  part  of  our  dessert.  The  nar- 
row valley  is  very  fertile;  all  around  are  yellow  hills  and  red 
deserts.  A  leisurely  journey  of  a  day  brought  me  thence  to 
Kanarra,  in  the  rim  of  the  Great  Basin.  In  the  south  end  of 
town  the  water  flows  towards  the  Colorado,  in  the  north  end 
into  the  Great  Basin.  Thence  I  made  a  leisurely  journey 


SCENE  OF  THE  MOUNTAIN  MEADOWS  MASSACRE,  A  FEW  YEARS  AFTER. 

among  the  noted  places  of  Southern  Utah,  gathering  in  a  very 
quiet  way  all  possible  information  about  the  Mountain  Mead- 
ows Massacre.  My  next  rest  was  at  Parowan,  whence  J  rode 
leisurely  into  Beaver — the  last  Gentile  outpost  in  that  direction 
at  that  time. 

Beaver  had  been  revolutionized  by  the  development  of 
mines.  Gentiles  were  to  be  seen  everywhere,  and  a  military 
post  had  been  established  near  town.  Thence  by  stage  it  was 
two  hundred  and  fifty  miles  to  "  Zion ; "  and  I  was  pleased  to 


AND   CRIMES   OF   MORMONISM.  453 

recognize,  in  the  first  driver,  my  old  friend  Will  Kimball,  who 
drove  a  team  across  the  plains  in  the  train  with  me  in  1868. 
KimbalPs  father  was  one  of  the  many  arrested  the  previous 
winter  on  charges  relating  to  the  conduct  of  the  Mormon  mili- 
tia in  the  rebellion  of  1857,  but  was  released  with  a  hundred 
and  twenty  others,  when  the  Supreme  Court  reversed  Judge 
McKean's  rulings.  In  the  progress  of  Utah  affairs,  nearly  all 
of  the  family  left  by  old  Heber  Kimball  have  become  pretty 
good  Gentiles.  This  seems  to  be'the  course  of  all  such  delu- 
sions which  do  not  end  in  blood. 

I  halted  for  a  day's  rest  at  Fillmore,  the  old  Territorial  capi- 
tal, a  hundred  and  seventy-five  miles  southwest  of  Salt  Lake, 
and  quite  a  beautiful  town.  Several  wealthy  Mormons  reside 
here,  in  elegant  brick  and  stone  houses,  and  the  place  is  old 
enough  for  all  the  shade  trees  and  shrubbery  to  have  attained  a 
good  growth.  Some  thirty  miles  west  of  Fillmore  is  a  re- 
markable mountain  peak,  or  rather  round  heap  of  cinders  and 
lava,  some  five  hundred  feet  high.  It  is  broken  square  across 
by  a  gulch  with  almost  perpendicular  sides,  at  the  bottom  of 
which  is  a  spring  that  is  coated  with  ice  around  the  edges  for 
eleven  months  in  the  year.  The  altitude  is  no  higher  than  that 
of  Fillmore,  but  the  sun  never  shines  in  the  gorge,  and  snow 
always  lies  upon  the  sheltered  points.  The  church  at  Fillmore 
was  busy  cutting  off  those  who  refused  to  assist  the  new  move 
for  a  State  government.  In  their  attempts  at  local  indepen- 
dence the  Mormons  had  succeeded  completely  in  showing  that 
they  were  unfit  for  it.  Of  some  two  hundred  Mormons  who 
voted  and  petitioned  against  the  admission  of  Utah  as  a  State, 
every  one  was  cited  before  the  Council  and  forced  to  publish  a 
recantation  or  be  "cut-off,  and  delivered  over  to  the  bufferings 
of  Satan."  Such  is  a  "  free  vote  "  under  an  "  infallible  priest- 
hood." 


454 


POLYGAMY;    OR,   THE   MYSTERIES 


A  few  days  after  I  reached  Salt  Lake  City,  with  considerable 
information  concerning  Southern.  Utah,  which  soon  proved  of 
some  value  in  the  interests  of  justice.  There  was  just  then  a 
truce  to  hostilities;  the  Supreme  Court  had  set  free  all  the  ar- 
rested Mormons,  and  the  Gentiles  were  doing  well  in  mining 
enterprises.  A  few  weeks  more  and  the  Mormons  were  wearing 
white  hats  and  yelling  themselves  hoarse  for  Greeley  for  Presi- 
dent. The  Church  nominated  Apostle  Cannon  for  Congress, 


NAVAJO   BOY. 


declaring  that  as  \V.  H.  Hooper  was  not  a  polygaraist,  the 
Saints  should  be  represented  by  a  man  in  full  faith  and  good 
practice.  There  was  in  the  declaration  a  most  ludicrous  as- 
sumption of  superior  Mormon  morality  and  toleration,  plainly 
conveying  this  idea:  We  have  humored  this  nation  long 
enough,  and  tolerated  their  prejudices  till  they  think  we  must ; 
we  will  send  them  a  good  Saint  and  a  representative  man,  who 


AND    CRIMES    OF    MORMONISM. 


455 


will  give  dignity  and  decency  to  a  corrupt  Congress,  etc.  The 
Liberals  nominated  General  George  R.  Maxwell ;  and  all  the 
bitterness  of  the  contest  in  the  nation  was  increased  ten-fold  by 
the  religious  element  introduced  into  the  quarrel.  Again  the 
Tabernacle  resounded  with  prophecies,  threats  and  denuncia- 
tions ;  and  again  we  heard,  for  the  ten-thousandth  time,  of  the 
"  wonderful  sobriety,  energy  and  industry  of  this  people,  who 


A  CAflON  IN  SOUTHERN  UTAH. 

broke  the  roads  to  this  country,  redeemed  the  wilderness,  made 
the  desert  blossom  as  the  rose,"  etc.,  etc.,  etc.,  ad  nauseam.  Of 
course  the  Mormons  carried  the  election,  and  Congress,  which 
bad  just  expelled  Bowen  (of  South  Carolina)  for  having  two 
wives,  graciously  received  Cannon  with  four ! 

Nearly  two  years  passed  without  any  exciting  event.     The 


456 


POLYGAMY;    OR,    THE   MYSTERIES 


Gentiles  abandoned  the  attempt  to  enforce  the  laws,  and  devoted 
themselves  to  business,  especially  mining.  The  courts  fell  into 
perfect  chaos ;  the  old  system  of  empanelling  juries  was  admit- 
ted to  be  illegal,  and  none  other  had  been  provided.  Finally, 
in  1874,  Congress  passed  the  bill  introduced  by  Mr.  Poland,  of 
Vermont,  which  provided  that  the  Clerk  of  the  District  Court 
(Gentile)  and  the  County  Judge  (Mormon)  should  each  select 
one  hundred  names,  and  from  the  two  hundred  grand  an^  petit 


NAVAJO  GIRL. 

jurors  should  be  drawn.  So  that  autumn  the  judicial  mill  once 
more  began  to  grind.  The  event  was  signalized  in  the  Second 
District  by  the  indictment  of  Lee  and  others  for  participation 
in  the  Mountain  Meadows  massacre.  The  prosecution  estab- 
lished that  that  infamous  butchery  is  rightly  understood  by  the 
world,  the  defence  failed  to  shake  the  case,  yet  the  jury,  two- 
thirds  Mormon,  disagreed,  and  justice  was  finally  done,  as 
related,  only  upon  John  Doyle  Lee. 


AND   CRIMES   OF    MORMONISM.  457 

District  Attorney  William  Gary  had  been  succeeded  mean- 
while by  Sumner  Howard,  of  Michigan.  The  indictment  of 
Bishop  W.  H.  Dame  was  nollied.  Higby,  Stewart  and  Haight 
fled  the  Territory,  and  have  ever  since  remained  in  hiding. 
They  could  have  been  found  and  arrested  by  some  trouble  and 
expense,  but  it  is  certain  they  could  not  have  been  convicted 
unless  by  the  concurrence  of  the  Church.  At  all  events,  no  one 
has  thought  it  worth  while  to  follow  them  up. 

Meanwhile  another  case  had  excited  a  national  interest. 
Margaret  Hawkins,  an  English  woman,  came  before  Judge 
McKean  and  made  affidavit  that  her  husband,  Thomas  Haw- 
kins, was  living  in  adultery.  The  Mormons  had  enacted  in 
1852  a  singularly  savage  law  against  adultery,  prescribing  pen- 
alties much  more  severe  than  in  any  State  or  other  Territory. 
It  is  said  this  was  done  partly  in  consequence  of  the  many  in- 
trigues between  persons  going  to  or  from  California  and  Mor- 
mon women.  But  as  all  leading  Mormons  are  living  in  what 
would  be  adultery  under  the  laws  of  any  civilized  country,  they 
hedged  against  this  danger  by  enacting  that  prosecution  should 
begin  "only  upon  the  complaint  of  husband  or  wife." 

The  case  of  Hawkins  was  a  most  disgusting  and  flagrant  one. 
It  was  proved  on  his  trial  that  his  wife  protested  against  his  two 
polygamous  marriages,  to  which  he  replied  with  brutal  lan- 
guage ;  and  that  he  occupied  a  bed  with  one  of  his  "  women  " 
in  the  same  room  with  his  wife,  compelling  her  to  witness  her 
own  degradation.  The  defence,  of  course,  was  that  the  two 
"women"  were  his  wives  by  marriages  which  his  religion 
recognized  and  enjoined.  He  was  found  guilty,  and  received 
the  lightest  sentence  the  law  allowed,  three  years  imprisonment 
and  a  fine  of  five  hundred  dollars. 

The  Mormons  and  their  apologists  contend  earnestly  that 
"  the  intent  of  the  legislators  should  govern  in  the  construction 


45S  POLYGAMY;   OR,   Tn^    MYSTERIES 

of  statutes,  and  it  could  not  be  possible  that  the  Mormon 
Legislature  meant  to  enact  a  law  against  polygamy."  To  this 
it  was  replied  that  the  intent  of  legislators  was  only  to  be 
sought  when  the  law  was  doubtful ;  but  when  a  statute  was 
plain  and  unambiguous,  as  this  was,  common  law  and  common 
reason  forbade  to  go  outside  of  it  for  a  different  construction. 
At  the  same  time,  no  evidence  of  any  revelation  to  justify 


MRS.  HAWKINS  PLEADING  WITH   HER   HUSBAND. 

polygamy  was  given  in  court.  It  is  difficult  to  see  how  the 
court  and  jury  could  consistently-have  acted  otherwise.  The 
law  was  express  in  its  directions ;  the  offence  was  proved 
beyond  a  doubt.  The  complainant  was  the  wife  provided  for  by 
law.  The  hardships,  if  any,  consisted  in  applying  a  universal 
rule  of  law  to  men  who  had  put  themselves  in  an  exceptional 
condition. 


AND   CRIMES   OF    MORMONISM.  459 

In  the  Third  District,  late  in  1874,  the  case  of  Ricks,  for  an 
old  Church  murder  in  Cache  Valley,  was  taken  up,  and  here, 
although  the  testimony  seemed  to  establish  an  out-and-out 
murder,  the  jury  acquitted.  It  has  always  been  supposed  that 
the  Church,  apprehensive  of  a  renewal  of  the  old  proceedings 
in  McKean's  Court,  concluded  to  allow  a  conviction  for  polyg- 
amy, in  the  hope  that  the  law  would  be  declared  unconstitu- 
tional, or  if  not,  and  if  they  must  abandon  it  or  all  go  to  the 
Penitentiary,  they  would  have  a  pretext  upon  which  to  do  so. 
One  George  Reynolds  was  the  victim.  He  was  indicted,  but 
pending  his  trial  Judge  McKean  was  superseded  by  D.  P. 
Lowe,  of  Kansas,  Justice  P.  H.  Emerson  sitting  in  the  interim, 
and  Reynolds  being  convicted.  With  the  supersedure  of 
McKean,  however,  everything  goes  to  show  that  the  Church 
changed  its  mind.  Instead  of  wholesale  indictments  of  the 
Mormon  leaders  for  murder  and  polygamy,  the  first  grand  jury 
under  the  new  law  had  presented  but  one  of  each  class  of 
crimes.  McKean,  whom  the  Church  knew  to  be  incorruptible 
and  fearless,  and  whom  it  believed  to  be  fanatical,  was  no 
longer  to  be  feared.  So  the  case  was  appealed,  the  judgment 
of  the  District  Court  reversed,  with  directions  to  set  aside  the 
verdict  and  quash  the  indictment  on  the  ground  that  the  grand 
jury  numbered  twenty-three  instead  of  fifteen.  Chief-Justice 
Lowe  resigned  and  was  followed  by  Judge  White,  of  Alabama, 
and  before  him  Mr.  Reynolds  was  again  tried,  convicted,  and 
sentenced.  Another  appeal  was  taken :  Judge  White  having 
been  superseded  meanwhile  by  Judge  Schaeffer,  of  Illinois. 

The  pleas  in  abatement  were,  in  brief,  that  the  proper  num- 
ber of  the  grand  jury  should  be  from  sixteen  to  twenty-three 
instead  of  fifteen ;  that  proper  notice  was  not  given  concerning 
the  drawing  of  the  grand  jury ;  that  the  court  sustained  the 
challenge  of  the  prosecution  to  several  jurors  who  refused  to 


460  POLYGAMY;   OR,   THE    MYSTERIES 

answer  a  question  criminating  themselves,  namely :  "Are  you 
living  in  polygamy?"  that  the  court  refused  to  sustain  defend- 
ant's challenge  to  the  juror,  Charles  Reade,  for  opinion  formed; 
that  the  record  as  to  finding  the  indictment  did  not  disclose  the 
name  of  defendant ;  that,  in  lieu  of  the  presence  of  the  witness^ 
Amelia  J.  Scofield,  her  testimony  given  at  the  first  trial  was 
accepted ;  that  the  court  refused  to  strike  out  extraneous  testi- 
mony ;  that  the  court  instructed  the  jury  to  consider  the  conse- 
quences to  the  innocent  victims  of  the  delusion,  etc.  The 
Supreme  Court  could  perceive  no  error  and  affirmed  the  pro- 
ceedings in  the  lower  court.  In  the  first  of  these  decisions  of 
the  Territorial  Supreme  Court,  the  plea  that  the  law  infringed 
upon  religious  freedom  was  dismissed  as  not  based  on  reason, 
justice,  or  law :  in  the  last  it  was  not  alluded  to. 

General  Cowan,  of  Ohio,  at  that  time  Assistant-Secretary  of 
the  Interior,  spent  some  weeks  in  Salt  Lake  with  the  view  of 
ascertaining  the  real  merits  of  the  Utah  situation.  He  gives 
the  following  account  of  this  trial  in  a  published  letter, 
namely : 

George  Reynolds  had  been  a  clerk  in  the  Endowment  House 
in  Salt  Lake  City,  a  position  which  threw  him  into  intimate 
relations  with  the  most  prominent  officials  of  the  Mormon 
Church.  He  was  also  well  known  in  the  city,  and  the  fact  of 
his  polygamous  marriage  was  notorious  in  the  community. 

The  jury,  which  had  been  selected  in  the  usual  manner,  was 
composed  of  eight  or  nine  Mormons,  and  three  or  four  Gen- 
tiles. They  were  men  of  fair  average  intelligence,  and  to 
judge  from  their  appearance,  would  compare  favorably  with 
the  average  juries  in  the  States. 

The  court-room  was  filled  with  a  crowd  composed  largely  of 
Mormons,  who  were  evidently  very  much  interested  in  the 
result  of  the  trial.  The  Gentiles  present  were  most  bitterly 


I 


AND   CRIMES   OF   MORMONISM.  461 

hostile  tc  the  whole  Mormon  system,  and  to  the  polygamous 
feature  of  it  especially.  The  case  excited  additional  interest 
from  the  fact  that  it  was  understood  that  it  would  be  a  test 
case,  and,  therefore,  that  its  result  would  settle  definitely  the 
question  of  polygamy  in  the  Territory  for  the  future. 

The  first  marriage  of  Reynolds  was  proven  without  difficulty, 
and  the  next  and  only  point  left  to  prove  was  the  second  or 
polygamous  marriage.  To  do  this  the  prosecution  relied  on  the 
following  witnesses : 

First — Daniel  H.  Wells,  one  of  the  very  highest  dignitaries 
of  the  church,  and  the  one  who  had  solemnized  the  marriage. 
He  was  at  the  time  Mayor  of  the  city  and  commander  of  the 
Nauvoo  Legion. 

Second — Orson  Pratt,  a  well-known  leader  and  high  official 
in  the  Mormon  Church,  a  witness  of  the  marriage,  and  one 
whose  duty  it  seems  to  have  been  to  keep  a  record  of  marriages 
under  the  Territorial  Statute. 

Third — A  bashful  young  man,  whose  name  is  forgotten,  who 
was  married  at  the  same  time  and  place,  and  under  the  same 
ceremony  as  Reynolds. 

Fourth — A  sister  of  Reynolds,  who  resided  with  her  brother 
and  his  second  wife. 

One  would  suppose  that  with  such  a  quartette  of  witnesses  it 
would  be  the  easiest  thing  in  the  world  to  prove  the  second 
marriage  of  Reynolds.  Yet  such  a  supposition  shows  an  entire 
ignorance  of  the  true  inwardness  of  Mormon  influence  over  the 
acts  and  words  of  the  true  believers,  inasmuch  as  the  prosecu- 
tion was  a  failure  so  far  as  these  four  witnesses  were  concerned. 
Bear  in  mind  that  the  marriage  had  taken  place  but  a  few 
months  before  the  trial ;  probably  in  August  of  the  preceding 
year.  General  Wells  swore  positively  and  without  hesitation 
that  he  had  no  recollection  of  performing  the  marriage  cere- 


462  POLYGAMY  ;    OR,    THE    MYSTERIES 

mony,  although  the  defendant  was  in  his  employ  at  the  time  of 
his  marriage  and  ever  since. 

Orson  Pratt  had  never  heard  of  such  a  marriage,  and  did 
not  remember  whether  he  had  ever  made  a  record  of  it  or  not. 

The  bashful  young  man  who  had  kept  step  with  Reynolds 
while  they  marched  through  the  awful  mysteries  of  the  Endow- 
ment House,  and  under  the  matrimonial  yoke,  had  not  the 
faintest  recollection  of  what  Reynolds  was  doing  there  on  that 
interesting  occasion. 

Miss  Reynolds  did  know  that  the  second  wife  was  living  at 
her  brother's  house,  but  did  not  know  in  what  capacity  she  was 
there,  showing  a  lack  of  curiosity  that  was  as  rare  as  it  was 
curious. 

At  this  point  the  prosecution  had  exhausted  its  resources, 
and  had  utterly  failed  to  make  out  a  case. 

The  District  Attorney  could  not  conceal  hi*  chagrin  and  dis- 
just  over  his  discomfiture,  while  the  Mormons  in  the  court- 
room were  jubilant,  and  leaned  over  the  railing  to  congratulate 
the  exultant  defendant  over  his  easy  victory.  The  Gentile 
spectators  were  utterly  disheartened  at  the  turn  of  the  testi- 
mony, as  it  seemed  to  them  that  the  whole  fabric  of  the  prose- 
cution had  melted  away  before  the  unblushing  perjury  of  the 
witnesses. 

At  this  critical  moment  Mr.  Baskin,  a  well-known  lawyer 
of  Salt  Lake  City,  formerly  of  Hillsborough,  Ohio,  twice  the 
Liberal  candidate  for  Delegate  to  Congress  from  Utah,  a  gen- 
tleman who  is  probably  as  bitterly  hated  by  the  Mormons  as 
any  other  man  in  Utah,  passed  to  the  writer  a  card  on  which 
was  written  :  "  Tell  him  to  call  the  second  wife."  This  card 
was  passed  to  the  District  Attorney,  who  read  it  and  sprang  to 
his  feet,  as  if  aroused  by  an  electric  shock,  and  asked  the  indul- 
gence of  the  court  for  a  few  moments. 


AND  CRIMES   OF   MORMONISM.  463 

Marshal  Maxwell  left  the  court-room,  and  in  ten  minutes 
brought  in  the  second  wife  by  a  side  door,  from  which  she 
could  be  seen  by  the  entire  audience.  As  the  Marshal  stepped 
aside  from  the  door  and  revealed  the  person  of  Mrs.  Reynolds 
No.  2  framed  in  the  doorway,  the  consternation  in  the  Mormon 
crowd  was  startling.  The  ghost  of  Joe  Smith  would  scarcely 
have  produced  a  more  profound  sensation.  Reynolds  settled 
himself  low  in  his  seat,  with  a  look  of  hopeless,  helpless  terror, 
while  a  general  look  of  dismay  spread  throughout  the  entire 
Mormon  auditory. 

Intuitively  all  seemed  to  think  that  here  was  a  witness  who 
was  bound  to  tell  the  truth.  Not  expecting  that  she  would  be 
called  as  a  witness,  and  knowing  positively  that  she  had  not 
been  subprenaed,  no  effort  was  made  to  compel  her  to  perjure 
herself;  and  such  effort,  if  made,  must  have  failed,  as  she  must 
either  have  sworn  herself  the  lawful  wife  of  George  Reynolds, 
or  tacitly  confessed  to  being  his  concubine. 

The  polygamous  wife  took  the  oath  and  advanced  to  the 
witness-stand  in  a  very  quiet  and  unassuming  manner,  when 
the  following  facts  were  elicited  :  "  My  name  is  Sarah  Reynolds. 
I  was  married  to  George  Reynolds  in  the  Endowment  House,  in 
this  city,  in  August  last,  by  General  Wells.  Mr.  Orson  Pratt 

was  present,  and  also  Mr. [naming  the  bashful  young 

man  with  the  poor  memory,  referred  to  above].  I  spoke  to 
Mr.  Wells  a  few  days  ago  about  the  case,  when  he  told  me  that 
I  need  not  be  uneasy  about  it,  that  I  would  not  be  called  as  a 
witness,  and  that  they  could  not  convict  George.  I  have  live'd 
with  George  Reynolds  ever  since  our  marriage."  And  that 
was  all. 

Now  here  was  a  predicament.  Every  one  who  heard  and 
saw  Mrs.  Reynolds  knew  that  she  was  telling  the  truth.  But 
the  truth  convicted  General  Wells,  Orson  Pratt  and  the  other 


464  POLYGAMY  ;    OR,    THE   MYSTERIES 

two  witnesses  of  perjury,  and  convicted  Reynolds  of  polygamy. 
It  made  a  clean  sweep,  and  utterly  confounded  the  whole  Mor- 
mon outfit  there  present. 

But  a  moment's  reflection  showed  them  that  their  reserves 
were  intact,  and  the  District  Attorney,  albeit  naturally  elated  at 
the  temporary  triumph,  remembered  that  he  had  yet  some  eight 
or  nine  apparently  insurmountable  obstacles  between  him  and 
a  verdict  of  guilty  in  the  persons  of  that  many  hard-headed 
Mormons  in  the  jury  box.  He  was  evidently  at  a  loss  what 
move  to  make  next.  He  had  won  a  victory,  but  how  to  secure 
its  fruits ;  this  was  the  dilemma.  He  looked  around  in  a  help- 
less sort  of  way,  as  if  for  counsel.  Again  came  Mr.  Baskin  to 
the  rescue  with  another  card,  which  was  handed  to  the  writer, 
who  read  it  hastily  and  handed  it  to  the  District  Attorney. 
He  had  written  :  "  Do  not  give  the  case  to  the  jury  to-night, 
but  dismiss  them  to  their  homes  until  morning/7  Relying 
upon  the  sagacity  of  the  advice,  it  was  promptly  followed,  and 
the  court  adjourned,  after  gravely  cautioning  the  jury  to  hold 
no  conversation  with  any  one  in  regard  to  the  trial. 

Mr.  Baskin  then  gave  his  reason  for  this  advice,  which  was 
in  substance  that  the  Mormon  jurors  had  their  advice  from 
Brigham  Young  to  return  a  verdict  of  not  guilty,  which  he 
probably  thought  would  be  justified  under  the  failure  of  the 
prosecution.  These  instructions  would  have  been  followed  at 
any  hazard,  the  result  of  which  would  have  been  a  "hung 
jury."  Now  Brigham  Young  and  the  Mormons  generally  be- 
lieve that  there  is  a  gentleman  here  present  (alluding  to  the 
writer)  who  represents  the  Federal  Government,  and  who  will 
report  the  details  of  this  trial.  The  evidence  of  the  last  witness 
was  so  conclusive  that  a  verdict  of  acquittal  would  be  an  out- 
rage which  might  justify  the  government  in  instituting  more 
vigorous  steps  for  the  suppression  of  polygamy.  The  jury 


AND   CRIMES   OF    MORMONISM.  465 

being  dismissed,  the  Mormon  members  of  it  will  to-night  get 
a  new  set  of  instructions,  and  to-morrow  will  join  in  a  verdict 
of  guilty,  while  Brigham  will  depend  on  the  law's  delay  and 
uncertainties  in  the  courts  above  to  carry  his  point. 

A  few  minutes  later,  in  a  conversation  with  the  judge,  who 
presided  at  the  trial,  he  advanced  the  same  theory  and  compli- 
mented the  District  Attorney  on  his  tact. 

Whether  the  theory  was  correct  or  not,  the  result  of  the  trial 
fully  vindicated  his  sagacity.  The  case  was  submitted  without 
argument  the  next  morning,  and  in  a  very  short  time  the  jury 
returned  with  a  verdict  of  guilty. 

To  Mr.  Baskin  is  due  the  credit  of  the  conviction  of  Rey- 
nolds in  the  District  C6urt,  although  he  had  no  direct  con- 
nection with  the  case,  and  the  writer  trusts  he  will  pardon  this 
mention  of  his  name  in  connection  with  the  trial. 

The  trial  of  Reynolds  developed  a  peculiar  state  of  things 
among  the  Mormons.  There  was  an  apparent  determination 
on  the  part  of  the  witnesses  to  protect  their  peculiar  institution 
at  all  hazards,  and  the  unanimity  with  which  they  perjured 
themselves  compels  the  conclusion  that  there  was  somewhere  a 
power  controlling  and  directing  the  current  of  events  in  the 
trial.  While  the  theory  with  regard  to  the  jury  was  simply 
conjecture,  yet  the  conduct  of  the  witnesses  in  the  case  certainly 
justified  the  belief  that  the  juries,  guided  by  the  same  mysteri- 
ous power,  would  scarcely  be  expected  to  prove  more  virtuous 
when  brought  face  to  face  with  the  perjury  than  the  witnesses 
had  been. 

The  Deputy  Marshal  used  a  little  strategy.  He  found  the 
woman  in  the  wash-tub,  and  introducing  himself  as  Arthur, 
son  of  Apostle  Pratt,  which  he  was,  he  told  her  they  were  try- 
ing to  make  out  in  the  Gentile  court  that  she  wasn't  married  to 
George  Reynolds,  and  carried  it  in  such  a  way  as  to  lead  her 

30 


466  POLYGAMY;    OR,   THE   MYSTERIES 

co  think  she  would  best  serve  her  own  and  the  church's  inter- 
ests  by  going  with  him  into  court  and  telling  the  facts.  This 
she  determined  to  do,  rolled  down  her  sleeves,  slicked  up  a 
little,  and  stepping  into  the  Marshal's  carriage  was  landed  in 
court  without  the  chance  of  other  influence  approaching  her ; 
with  the  result  already  told.  Thoughtful  reader,  pause  here 
and  ask  yourself:  What  must  be  the  condition  of  a  society  in 
which  a  son  by  strategy  develops  the  proof  that  his  apostolic 
father  is  a  perjured  liar? 

The  case  went  up,  and  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United 
States,  October  term,  1878,  unanimously  affirmed  the  judgment 
of  the  Territorial  District  and  Supreme  Courts  in  every  point, 
Mr.  Justice  Field  alone  dissenting  as  to  the  propriety  of  admit- 
ting testimony  given  on  a  former  trial  upon  a  different  indict- 
ment. 

On  the  announcement  of  this  decision  it  was  intimated  to 
Delegate  Cannon  by  influential  persons  that  the  government 
would  l>e  glad  to  ignore  the  past  if  the  practice  were  given  up 
for  the  future.  Mr.  Cannon  perhaps  gave  no  encouragement 
that  the  idea  would  be  entertained  by  the  Church,  at  least  no 
more  than  enough  to  tide  over  that  session  of  Congress.  In 
Utah,  Congress  and  the  Supreme  Court  were  denounced  at  large 
for  interfering  with  the  free  exercise  of  religion;  the  responsi- 
bility was  laid  upon  the  Almighty,  and  the  determination  ex- 
pressed to  "live  their  religion"  whatever  the  consequences. 
Polygamous  marrying  went  on  without  the  least  disturbance, 
and  has  ever  since.  The  decision  gave  none  but  moral  assist- 
ance, and  from  the  ignorance  of  the  Mormon  people,  that  could 
not  amount  to  much.  The  difficulty  in  enforcing  the  law 
never  rose  from  any  doubt  as  to  its  constitutionality,  but  from 
the  fact  that  juries  were  formerly  wholly  composed  of  polyg- 
amiste  and  now  are  one-half  that  kind,  and  from  the  irnpossi- 


AND   CRIMES   OF    MORMONI8M.  467 

bility  of  securing  proof  of  plural  marriages,  all  the  participants 
being  sworn  to  secrecy  by  an  oath  which  they  are  taught  ab- 
solves them  from  all  other  oaths. 

The  Gentiles  were  suddenly  roused  to  the  full  appreciation 
of  the  resolution  of  the  polygamists  within  a  few  months  of 
the  rendering  of  the  decision.  A  young  Englishman  named 
John  Miles  undertook  to  marry  three  girls  at  once,  two  of 
them  sisters.  One  of  them  was  Caroline  Owens,  and  she  had 
been  drawn  from  home  and  country  to  marry  this  supposed 
lover.  Upon  arriving  in  Utah  she  found  that  she  had  two 
partners  in  her  proposed  husband's  affections.  Not  only  that, 
but  one  of  them  being  older  than  she  was,  she  could  not  even 
be  the  first  or  legal  wife.  This  was  too  much,  although  she 
did  marry  him,  one  of  the  other  girls  backing  out  for  some 
unknown  reason  at  the  last  moment.  At  the  wedding  supper 
she  made  a  scene,  refusing  to  recognize  the  other  wife,  and  in- 
deed slapping  her  face.  She  appealed  to  District  Attorney 
Van  Zile,  of  Michigan,  who  had  succeeded  Howard,  and  Van 
Zile  ultimately  convicted  Miles,  claiming  for  the  first  time,  and 
establishing,  for  he  was  sustained  in  these  two  points,  that 
defendant's  admissions  were  sufficient  proof  of  the  fact  of  his 
marriage,  and  that  polygamists  and  those  who  believed  in 
polygamy  as  a  divine  ordinance  might  rightfully  be  excluded 
from  the  jury  in  such  a  case.  His  weak  point  was  in  using  Miss 
Owens  at  all  to  prove  the  first  marriage.  On  that  the  judg- 
ment was  reversed,  the  Supreme  Court  holding : 

First — It  is  evident  from  the  examination  of  the  jurors  on 
their  voir  dire,  that  they  believed  polygamy  was  ordained  of 
God  and  that  the  practice  of  polygamy  was  obedience  to  the 
will  of  God.  At  common  law  this  would  have  been  ground 
for  the  principle  challenge  of  juror  guilty  of  the  same  act.  It 
needs  no  argument  to  show  that  a  jury  composed  of  men  enter- 


468  POLYGAMY;   OR,    THE   MYSTERIES 

taming  .such  a  belief  could  not  have  been  free  from  bias  or 
prejudices  on  the  trial  for  bigamy  of  a  person  who  entertained 
the  same  belief,  and  whose  offence  consisted  in  the  act  of  living 
in  polygamy,  but  whether  the  evidence  of  this  bias  was  suffi- 
cient or  not,  it  was  found  by  the  triers  and  that  was  conclusive. 

Second — That  the  District  Court  committed  no  error  in  ad- 
mitting the  declarations  of  Miles  to  prove  his  first  marriage. 

Third — That  the  Court  below  did  err  in  allowing  Caroline 
Owens,  the  second  wife,  to  give  evidence  against  Miles  touching 
his  marriage  with  Emily  Spencer,  the  first  wife.  The  law  of 
Utah  declares  that  a  husband  shall  not  be  a  witness  for  or 
against  his  wife,  or  the  wife  for  or  against  her  husband.  The 
marriage  of  Miles  with  Caroline  Owens  was  charged  in  the  in- 
dictment and  admitted  by  him  upon  trial.  The  fact  of  his 
previous  marriage  with  Emily  Spencer  was  therefore  the  only 
issue  in  the  case,  and  that  was  contested  to  the  end  of  the  trial. 
Until  the  fact  of  the  marriage  of  Emily  Spencer  with  Miles 
was  established,  Caroline  Owens  was  prima  facie  his  wife,  and 
she  could  not  be  used  as  a  witness.  Nearly  all  authorities 
agree  that  as  long  as  the  fact  of  the  first  marriage  is  contested, 
the  second  wife  cannot  be  admitted  to  prove  it.  It  is  made 
clear,  by  the  record,  that  polygamous  marriages  are  celebrated 
in  such  a  way  in  Utah,  so  as  to  make  proof  of  polygamy  very 
difficult.  They  are  conducted  in  secret,  and  the  persons  by 
,vhom  they  are  solemnized  are  under  such  obligations  to  secrecy 
that  it  is  almost  impossible  to  extract  facts  from  them  when 
placed  upon  the  witness-stand.  If  both  wives  are  excluded 
from  testimony  to  the  first  marriage,  as  in  the  opinion  of  the 
court  they  should  be  under  the  existing  rules  of  evidence,  testi- 
mony sufficient  to  convict  for  polygamy  in  Utah  is  hardly  at- 
tainable. This  is  not,  however,  a  consideration  which  ought  to 
influence  this  court.  It  must  administer  the  law  as  it  finds  it. 


AND   CRIMES   OF   MORMONISM.  469 

The  remedy  is  with  Congress,  by  enacting  such  change  in  the 
law  of  evidence  in  Utah  as  to  make  both  wives  witnesses  in  an 
indictment  for  bigamy.  For  the  error  above  indicated,  the 
judgment  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  Utah  is  reversed,  and  the 
cause  remanded  for  new  trial.  Justice  Woods  delivered  the 
opinion. 

It  appears  that  if  he  had  allowed  the  proof  of  Miles'  first 
marriage  to  rest  solely  upon  his  own  acts  and  admissions,  the 
judgment  of  the  Court  would  have  been  affirmed,  and  the  little 
beast  Miles  would  now  be  serving  out  his  sentence.  Let  us 
hope  that  is  still  to  come.  At  present  he  is  out  on  bail. 

This  decision  is  now  about  one  year  old,  and  its  effect  is  seen, 
in  part,  in  the  late  Utah  legislation  of  Congress.  The  marriage 
itself  set  in  motion  agencies  and  influences  which  are  also  now 
bearing  fruit.  It  aroused  the  most  intense  indignation  in  Salt 
Lake,  indeed  there  were  plenty  of  Mormons  wise  enough  to 
denounce  its  beastly  bravado,  and  after  some  informal  talk  in 
various  gatherings,  it  was  proposed,  at  a  meeting  of  the  ladies' 
literary  society  called  "The  Blue  Tea,"  to  call  a  women's  mass 
meeting  and  organize  a  Woman's  Anti-Polygamy  Society. 
This  was  done,  and  its  first  work  was  to  address  30,000  circu- 
lars to  pastors  of  churches,  including  forms  of  petition  to  Con- 
gress for  additional  law,  and  a  stirring  address  to  the  people, 
particularly  the  women  of  the  United  States,  calling  attention 
to  the  danger  and  criminality  of  further  idleness  in  the  face  of 
the  steady  growth  and  spread  of  polygamy.  Ultimately  a 
monthly  paper,  called  the  Anti- Poly  gamy  Standard,  was  started 
by  Mrs.  B.*A.  M.  Froiseth  of  that  society.  This  paper  has 
done  good  work,  and  been  an  effective  means  of  agitation. 
The  society  has  met  upon  occasion,  and  by  resolutions  and  ad- 
dresses sought  to  arouse  public  sentiment.  Auxiliary  societies 
have  been  formed  for  active  work  in  other  cities.  To  counter- 


470  POLYGAMY. 

act  its  influence  a  mass-meeting  of  Mormon  women  was  held  in 
the  theatre,  the  sorriest  sight  ever  seen  on  this  continent; 
twelve  hundred  women  met  to  glory  in  their  shame,  to  protest 
against  interference,  and  to  pray  Congress  to  fasten  the  de- 
humanizing of  their  sex  on  this  free  new  world  by  constitu- 
tional amendment!  The  mothers  of  the  Present  which  is  to 
live  in  the  Future  are  not  such  as  these.  The  pastors  of  Chris- 
tian churches  in  Salt  Lake  took  concerted  action  with  the  view 
of  systematically  working  on  public  sentiment.  The  result 
was  seen  in  the  outspoken  resolutions  on  the  subject  adopted  at 
Episcopal,  Methodist,  Congregational,  Presbyterian,  and  other 
great  church  assemblies  and  conferences,  addressed  to  the  people 
and  to  Congress. 

When  President  Hayes  visited  Utah,  in  1880,  his  attention 
was  called  to  the  necessity  of  stripping  the  polygamists  of  all 
political  power,  by  Chief-Justice  Hunter,  prosecutions  seeming 
to  be  necessarily  farcical  under  the  peculiar  circumstances. 
President  Hayes  and  the  gentlemen  with  him  became  convinced 
that  it  was  the  thing  to  do,  and  in  his  last  message  to  Congress 
recommended  the  creation  of  a  commission  to  supersede  the 
polygamous  Legislature  of  Utah  as  its  governing  power.  The 
Liberal  Convention  of  1880  adopted  this  resolution  among 
others :  "  That  our  experience  in  Utah  satisfies  us  that  any  re- 
form in  these  vital  questions  through  the  local  Legislature  is 
not  practicable;  and  we  affirm  the  conviction  that  the  true 
and  only  remedy  for  the  evils  we  have  enumerated  lies  in  a  re- 
peal of  the  legislative  power  now  possessed  by  the  Utah  Legis- 
lative Assembly,  and  in  transmitting  it  to  a  tribunal  to  be 
provided  for  by  Congress  and  the  National  Executive." 

It  was  in  the  course  of  judicial  proceedings  in  the  Miles- 
Owens  case  that  Daniel  H.  Wells  put  himself  in  contempt  of 
court  by  refusing  to  answer  some  questions,  for  which  he  was 


472 


POLYGAMY  ;    OR,    THE    MYSTERIES 


sent  to  the  penitentiary  for  twenty-four  hours.  On  his  release 
nearly  ten  thousand  people  turned  out  and  escorted  him  into 
town.  Great  crowds  of  women  and  school  girls  figured  in  this 
dirty  procession,  besides  men  in  carriages,  afoot  and  horseback, 
carrying  flags  and  mottoes,  such  as,  "  We  women  of  Utah  up- 
hold polygamy/'  The  constitutionality  of  the  law  had  been 
affirmed,  and  the  propriety  of  excluding  polygamists,  which  a 
Territorial  law,  passed  in  1878,  made  practicable,  there  was 
nothing  left  between  the  polygamists  and  the  penitentiary  save 
the  faithfulness  of  witnesses.  This  demonstration  was  in  honor 
of  one  who  had  gone  to  jail  rather  than  make  a  compromising, 
that  is,  a  true,  answer.  It  meant :  We  will  honor  to  the  top 
of  OUF  bent  all  who  are  faithful ;  we  will  visit  with  the  utmost 
contumely  such  as  are  not.  A  public  terrorizing  of  witnesses. 
If  Congress  can  contrive  to  enact,  in  some  of  its  Utah  bills,  that 
a  man  when  questioned  shall  tell  the  truth,  and  it  can  be  en- 
forced, the  courts  might  be  able  to  convince  the  Mormons  in 
time  that  polygamy  is  under  the  ban  of  civilization,  and  will 
not  be  tolerated ;  otherwise  they  can  only  touch  it  where  the 
victims  themselves  enter  complaint. 

The  Legislature  of  1876  was  chiefly  notable  for  turning  out 
of  the  House,  bag  and  baggage,  without  ceremony,  the  only 
representative  ever  elected  to  that  body  by  the  Gentiles.  It 
was  a  Mr.  Foote,  and  he  was  elected  by  Tooele  county.  Gov- 
ernor G.  W.  Emery  was  the  co-ordinate  branch  for  this  session. 
His  message  was  a  business-like  paper,  calling  attention  to  de- 
fects in  the  statutes,  and  recommending  new  legislation  as  to 
education,  elections,  marriage  and  divorce,  and  other  matters. 
It  was  comparatively  well  received  and  acted  on  save  as  to 
marriage.  On  this  point  a  House  committee  reported,  resting 
the  case  of  polygamy  on  the  Bible. 

After  Lee's  execution  there  was  an  uneasy  feeling  in  the 


AND   CRIMES   OF   MORMONISM.  473 

Territory.  Instead  of  following  up  Haight,  Stewart  and 
Higby,  Howard  scoured  the  country  east  and  west,  and  brought 
witnesses  before  his  grand  juries  to  procure  indictments  in 
sundry  of  the  old  church  murder  cases.  It  was  1877,  the  year 
of  depression  and  strikes.  The  Mormons  fancied  that  in  some 
way  Brigham  Young  was  to  be  brought  to  trial,  and  sent  to  join 
John  D.  Lee;  and  the  Gentiles  believed  that  the  Mormons 
would  resist  even  his  incarceration,  remembering  Carthage  jail, 
by  force  of  arms,  if  necessary.  The  Fort  Douglas  garrison 
was  off  on  the  Indian  war,  and,  upon  representations  of  the 
governor  to  the  Secretary  of  War,  General  Crook  was  ordered 
to  Salt  Lake.  Waiting  upon  him,  the  Gentiles  told  him  they 
apprehended  no  uprising,  unless  Young  were  brought  to  trial. 
General  Crook  thought  the  emergency  not  very  pressing,  and 
the  troops  returned  to  Fort  Douglas  only  at  the  end  of  the 
campaign  in  the  field. 

At  that  time  the  Gentiles  believed  that  the  conviction  of  Lee 
was  to  be  followed  up;  but  Howard,  or  the  attorney-general,  or 
both,  thought  differently,  and  on  the  29th  day  of  August  fol- 
lowing, Brigham  Young  passed  away  from  this  life  in  his  own 

» 

house,  of  inflammation  of  the  bowels.  The  life,  death  and 
funeral  ceremonies  of  so  noted  an  adventurer,  with  the  peculiar 
settlement  of  his  estate,  are  worthy  of  a  separate  chapter. 


474  POLYGAMY. 


CHAPTER  XXI. 

BRIGHAM    YOUNG. 

His  remarkable  position — Compared  with  Queen  Victoria  and  th«  Pope — His 
birth,  conversion  and  rise  in  Mormonism — Marries  Mary  Ann  Angell,  Lucy 
Decker  Seely,  Clara  Decker,  Clara  Chase,  Harriet  Bowker,  Lucy  Bigeloj?, 
Harriet  Barney  et  cd. — Death  and  funeral  ceremonies — His  will — Settlement 
of  the  estate — Church  reorganized — John  W.  Young  left  out — Brigham's 
character — Was  he  a  success  ? 

"  BRIGHAM  YOUNG  died  to-day."  When  this  brief  dispatch 
flashed  over  the  wires,  on  the  29th  of  August,  1877,  it  found 
the  nation  in  no  humor  to  speculate.  We  had  something  like 
a  laborers'  war  on  our  hands,  and  the  Mormons  were  confidently 
looking  forward  to  anarchy  and  ruin  in  the  States.  But  no 
Gentile  could  realize  the  solemn  import  of  those  words  to  the 
75,000  orthodox  Mormons  in  Utah,  to  the  four  thousand  or 
more  in'Great  Britain,  and  the  scattered  churches  in  Scandi- 
navia, Arizona,  Idaho  and  the  Sandwich  Islands.  At  the  time 
of  his  death  about  one  hundred  thousand  adults  looked  upon 
Brigham  Young  as  the  divinely  appointed  head  of  the  only  true 
church  in  the  world.  In  1870  the  Pope,  Queen  Victoria  and 
Brigham  Young  were  the  only  heads  of  church  and  state  in  the 
civilized  world;  the  Pope  has  since  lost  his  temporal  power, 
Brigharn  is  dead  and  the  British  Episcopal  Church  is  only  not 
quite  disestablished.  It  was  a  bad  decade  for  theocrats. 

Brigham  Young  was  born,  June  1st,  1801,  in  Whittingham, 
Windham  county,  Vermont.  His  father  was  an  old  revolu- 
tionary soldier,  of  Massachusetts,  the  parent  of  six  sons  and  five 


47(3  POLYGAMY;   OK,  TIIK   MYSTERIES 

daughters.  This  whole  family  embraced  Mormonism  soon  after 
Brigham  did.  The  father  died  in  one  of  the  early  migrations 
of  the  Mormons  in  Missouri ;  the  sons  and  daughters  lived  to 
go  into  polygamy  in  Utah,  and  become  the  parents  of  large 
families.  None  of  Brigham's  brothers  ever  evinced  any  special 
talent  for  anything.  Phinehas  and  Lorenzo  Dow  Young  were 
barely  mediocre ;  "  Uncle  John  "  Young  for  many  years  was 
Patriarch  of  the  church,  but  was  a  mere  puppet  as  pulled  by 


BRIGHAM   YOUNG. 


Brigham ;  Joseph  sometimes  preached,  but  with  no  particular 
force,  and  the  fifth  brother  was  of  so  little  consequence  that  his 
name  is  scarcely  known  in  Utah.  Nor  did  any  of  them  acquire 
property  to  any  great  extent ;  at  least  two  were  so  poor  they 
had  to  accept  assistance — it  might  be  called  charity — from 
Brigham.  The  sisters  are  equally  obscure.  Whatever  Brig- 
ham's  talent  was,  he  alone  of  the  family  possessed  it.  I  have 
repeatedly  talked  with  his  nephews  and  grandchildren  concern- 
ing him ;  but  his  career  was  as  much  a  mystery  to  them  as  to 
the  Gentile  world.  Oscar  Young,  Brigham's  second  oldest 
child  in  polygamy,  is  now  a  thorough-going  Gentile,  and  a 


AND   CRIMES   OF    MORMONISM.  47? 

frank,  outspoken  gentleman ;  but  to  him,  as  to  strangers,  his 
father's  real  nature  was  a  sealed  book. 

Early  in  life  Brigham  married,  and  was  early  left  a  widower 
with  two  daughters,  both  then  living  in  polygamy  in  Utah. 
Mormonism  first  took  form  as  a  religion  in  1830,  and  among 
the  first  preachers  sent  out  was  Samuel  H.  Smith,  youngest 
brother  of  the  Prophet  Joseph.  He  met  and  exhorted  Brig- 
ham,  and  almost  "converted"  him.  A  little  later,  in  1832,  he 
gave  in  his  adhesion  to  the  new  faith,  and  was  baptized  by 
Elder  Eleazar  Miller.  He  at  once  set  out  for  Kirtland, 
whither  the  young  church  was  gathering;  came  upon  Joe 
Smith  while  the  latter  was  chopping  in  the  woods,  and,  accord- 
ing to  their  mutual  account,  was  at  once  blessed  exceedingly. 
Joseph  pronounced  him  a  man  of  wonderful  powers,  gifted  of 
God  for  the  furtherance  of  the  faith,  and  added  that  he  would 
"one  day  lead  the  church."  The  anti-Brighamite  Mormon 
sects  add  that  Joseph  also  said :  "And  he  will  lead  it  to  hell." 
He  should  have  said  so  if  he  did  not,  for  it  has  proved  very 
near  the  truth. 

Brigham  had  previously  quit  farm  life  to  become  a  painter 
and  glazier,  and  he  now  exercised  his  trade  upon  the  Temple  at 
Kirtland,  glazing  the  windows  with  his  own  hands.  It  was 
soon  discovered  by  Joseph  that  Brigham  was  the  most  practical 
of  all  his  converts;  and,  as  that  sort  of  a  man  was  badly  needed, 
he  advanced  rapidly.  He  was  married  at  Kirtland  in  1832,  to 
Mary  Ann  Angell,  his  legal  wife,  who  became  the  mother  of 
three  sons  and  two  daughters,  and  lived  many  years  in  Salt  Lake 
City. 

In  1835  Brigham  was  ordained  an  apostle;  in  1838,  the 
death  of  Apostle  Patton  and  the  apostasy  of  Apostles  Thomas 
B.  Marsh  and  Orson  Hyde  left  him  at  the  head  of  the  Twelve. 
Orson  Hyde  soon  after  returned  to  the  church,  and  long  years 


478  POLYGAMY;   OR,   THE   MYSTERIBS 

after  Thomas  B.  Marsh  rejoined  the  brethren  in  Utah,  where 
he  died  in  the  faith.  In  1839-41  Brigham  did  a  wonderful 
work  as  missionary  in  Great  Britain,  and  thereafter  stood  next 
to  Joseph  Smith.  He  accepted  polygamy  among  the  first,  and 
in  its  defense  lied  as  unscrupulously  as  the  best  of  Mormons. 
His  "first  in  polygamy"  was  Lucy  Decker  Seely,  wife  of  Dr. 
Isaac  Seely.  Brigham  cast  his  eye  upon  her,  Joseph  Smith 
opened  negotiations  and  soon  convinced  her  that  she  could  not 
secure  an  "  exaltation  "  with  her  then  husband — the  more  easily, 
perhaps,  as  Dr.  Seely  was  a  dissipated  man,  and  she  freely 
admitted  that  she  "  loved  Brother  Brigham."  She  still  lives — 
fair,  fat  and  fifty  odd,  maybe  sixty,  short  in  stature,  with 
petite  features,  dark  eyes,  brown  hair,  fair  skin  and  plain  traces 
of  former  beauty.  Her  first  child  in  polygamy  is  Brigham 
Heber  Young,  a  rather  fine  and  manly  gentleman.  Lucy 
never  was  the  highest  favorite,  but  held  her  rank  well  and  in  a 
quiet,  unpretentious  way  did  her  duty  in  polygamy  according 
to  the  dictates  of  her  Mormon ized  conscience.  I  never  saw  or 
heard  much  of  her  children,  but  by  common  report  they  re- 
semble the  mother,  being  of  only  average  intellect  and  not  re- 
markable for  anything.  She  had  eight,  all  of  whom  lived  to 
maturity. 

Clara  Decker  was  his  "second  in  polygamy,"  a  woman  of 
the  same  type  as  Lucy,  and  the  mother  of  four  children.  These 
two  are  sisters  of  Charlie  Decker,  who  returned  the  compliment 
by  marrying  two  of  Brigham's  daughters.  The  great  break- 
up at  Nauvoo  soon  followed  this  marriage  of  Clara  Decker ; 
Brigham  led  the  church  into  'the  wilderness,  and  at  Winter 
Quarters,  on  the  Missouri,  married  Harriet  Cook,  a  convert 
from  the  vicinity  of  Adrian,  Michigan.  She  is  a  black-eyed, 
muscular  woman  of  the  tigerish  type,  and  for  a  while  gave 
Brigham  more  trouble  than  all  the  rest.  In  a  fit  of  anger  and 


AND   CRIMES   OF    MORMONISM.  479 

jealousy  she  tried  to  strangle  her  son  Oscar;  Brigham  then 
swore  he  "  would  have  no  more  of  that  breed,"  and  Harriet 
never  again  became  a  mother.  She  railed  on  polygamy  and 
denounced  the  whole  saintly  outfit,  but  in  after  years  became 
more  reconciled,  and  was  one  of  the  most  active  in  protesting 
against  the  Congressional  law  against  polygamy. 

Thereafter  Brigham's  alliances  were  so  numerous  that  we 
can  only  glance  at  them.  After  reaching  Utah  he  married,  in 
rapid  succession,  Lucy  Bigelow,  Clara  Chase,  Miss  Twiss, 
Martha  Bowker  and  Harriet  Barney.  The  last  complained  a 
great  deal  of  Brigham's  devotion  to  one  or  two  wives,  but 
otherwise  she  was  a  woman  of  good  disposition.  She  also  left 
a  Gentile  husband  to  become  the  wife  of  Brigham,  but  retained 
his  affections  a  very  short  time.  All  this  lot  of  wives  retired 
from  business  long  ago,  and  after  1865  were  no  more  wives  to 
Brigham  than  any  other  women  whom  he  had  about  the  house 
as  servants.  Clara  Chase,  one  of  these  wives,  died  a  maniac, 
leaving  four  children. 

His  next  wife,  Eliza  Burgess,  was  an  English  servant-girl; 
she  worked  seven  years  in  Brigham's  family,  was  obedient  and 
industrious,  and  the  story  goes  that  Brigham  married  her 
rather  than  lose  her  services.  Other  wives  taken  about  the 
same  time  were:  Ellen  Rockwood,  daughter  of  S.  P.  Rock- 
wood,  Warden  of  the  Penitentiary;  Susan  Snively,  a  Yankee 
girl;  Jemima  Angell,  sister  of  the  legal  wife;  Margaret  Alley, 
who  died  in  1853,  leaving  two  children;  Margaret  Peirce,  who 
is  a  "home  body"  of  whom  Gentiles  know  nothing;  Mrs. 
Hampton,  widow  of  a  Hampton  who  died  at  Nauvoo,  and 
Mary  Bigelow,  who  lived  with  Brighara  but  a  short  time  and 
departed,  no  one  seems  to  know  where.  Brigham's  affection 
during  these  years  seems  to  have  been  a  sort  of  flowering  an- 
nual, clinging  to  new  supports  at  each  returning  season. 


480  POLYGAMY. 

But  the  favorite  who  soon  displaced  all  others,  and  for  a 
dozen  years  ruled  undisputed  Queen  of  the  Harem,  was  Emme- 
line  Free,  originally  of  Portsmouth,  Xew  Hampshire.  Em- 
meline  was  indeed  a  lovely  woman,  and  by  all  accounts  as 
lovely  in  disposition  as  in  person.  She  was  tall  and  graceful, 
with  violet  eyes  and  soft  fair  hair,  and  her  ten  children  are  the 
best  looking  of  Brigham's  offspring.  He  distinguished  her  in 
every  way ;  gave  her  better  rooms  than  the  rest,  and  servants 
to  wait  upon  her.  She  grew  to  love  him,  and  obtained  a  pow- 
erful influence  over  him.  Finally,  so  great  became  the  jealousy 
of  the  other  wives,  that  he  had  constructed  a  private  hall  lead- 
ing /rom  his  office  to  Emmeline's  room,  that  he  might  visit  her 
without  observation  or  constraint.  He  devoted  himself  to  her 
exclusively,  and  she  reigned  supreme  over  the  sisters.  She  re- 
ceived her  company  in  the  grand  saloon  ;  she  occupied  the  seat 
of  honor  at  the  table,  at  the  right  hand  of  her  husband.  In 
short,  she  was  his  real  wife,  and  he  was  proud  of  her  beauty  and 
accomplishments. 

But  youth  and  beauty  cannot  last  always.  Emmeline  grew 
faded,  and  Brigham  demanded  a  new  deal.  In  1865  he  cast  a 
wistful  eye  on  Amelia  Folsom,  also  from  New  Hampshire,  and 
his  carriage  often  stood  for  hours  before  her  father's  door.  She 
had  a  young  lover,  whom  Brigham  sent  on  a  mission.  Three 
times,  they  say,  was  the  Endowment  House  warmed  for  the 
ceremony  before  Amelia  finally  came  to  the  sticking  point,  and 
was  u sealed"  to  the  Prophet.  Emmeline  was  frantic.  She 
raved,  prayed  and  begged  by  turns,  and  finally  appealed  to 
Mary  Ann  Angeli  to  help  her  in  preventing  this  marriage ;  but 
Mary  Ann  was  long  past  taking  any  interest  in  such  things. 
Amelia  enjoyed  her  triumph  amazingly.  She  was  Brigham's 
only  companion  in  his  box  at  the  theatre ;  had  a  palace  built 
for  her  sole  self,  and  rode  beside  him  in  his  carriage  on  his 


482  POLYGAMY;    OR,   THE   MYSTERIES 

airings.  And  if  you  ever  saw  a  thorough  adventuress  who  had 
robbed  an  honest  woman  of  her  husband,  "  putting  on  airs ': 
over  the  achievement,  you  have  a  fair  picture  of  Amelia  in  her 
triumph.  The  last  time  I  saw  her  was  at  the  Warm  Springs,  in 
the  carriage  with  Brigham,  in  1875;  and  at  the  risk  of  harsh 
criticism  I  must  say  that  she  was  the  one  Mormon  woman  whose 
appearance  was,  to  me,  perfectly  hateful.  Nobody  need  waste 
valuable  time  in  trying  to  prove  that  such  a  woman  is  a 
conscientious  believer  in  polygamy. 

Emmeline  was  literally  heart-broken.  She  became  a  con- 
firmed morphine-eater  and  a  complete  wreck.  In  1875  she 
died,  and  her  last  hours,  according  to  the  account  of  a  nurse, 
were  too  horrible  for  description.  Her  wasted  and  disfigured 
body  was  placed  in  a  cheap  coffin,  Brigham  made  a  few 
remarks  at  the  grave,  and  Emmeline  Free  was  buried — with 
little  more  ceremony,  and  certainly  less  grief,  on  his  part,  than  a 
cultured  gentleman  would  show  at  the  death  of  a  favorite  horse. 
Not  more  than  a  week  after  Emmeline's  death  we  had  a  largt 
party  of  excursionists  from  the  East.  They  all  called  on  Brig 
ham,  paid  their  most  profound  respects,  were  appropriately 
charmed  with  all  they  saw,  and  correspondingly  indignant  at  ui 
resident  Gentiles  for  our  war  on  the  hierarchy.  One  lady  took 
me  to  task  very  severely,  and  afterwards  sent  me  a  slip  from  an 
Eastern  paper,  containing  her  eulogy  on  "  Mormon  enterprise, 
order,  hospitality,  etc."  A  young  lady  from  Philadelphia, 
remained  in  Salt  Lake  some  time  after  the  others  left,  boarding 
In  the  same  polygamous  household  I  did,  and  became  posi- 
tively enthusiastic  over  the  quiet,  order  and  beauty  of  Zion.  I 
was  not  surprised  to  learn  afterwards  that  her  enthusiasm 
abated  somewhat  as  her  knowledge  of  the  institution  increased. 
I  like  to  hear  Eastern  people  apologize  for  polygamy — especially 
Jadies.  They  go  about  it  so  logically,  and  it  sounds  go  natural. 


AND   CRIMES   OF    MORMONISM.  483 

After  discarding  Emraeline,  Brigham  went  on  marrying  in  a 
very  Mormonish  way ;  but  Amelia  was  the  recognized  Queen 
of  the  Harem  until  his  death.  Among  others  he  married  Ann 
Eliza  Webb,  now  well  known  to  the  nation  as  an  anti-polyga- 
mist  lecturer.  Neither  of  these  late  wives  had  any  children  save 
Margaret  Van  Cott,  whose  little  daughter  is  Brigham's  last 
child.  Amelia  was  considerably  irritated  about  this  baby,  and 
indulged  in  some  harsh  judgments  on  "  that  woman ; "  but  no- 
body believed  her  insinuations.  Brigham  was  not  always  suc- 
cessful in  his  wooing.  Selina  Ursenbach,  sister  of  Octave  Ur- 
senbach,  who  constructed  the  great  organ  in  the  Tabernacle, 
flatly  refused  the  Prophet  after  a  long  courtship;  and  when 
further  troubled,  apostatized  and  went  back  to  Switzerland, 
To  sum  up,  those  best  posted  estimate  that  Brigham  was  actually 
married  twenty-nine  times,  and  had  at  one  time  twenty-three 
wives. 

But  he  was  "  sealed  "  on  the  "  spiritual  wife  "  system  to  more 
women  than  any  one  can  count;  all  over  Mormondom  are 
pious  old  widows,  or  wives  of  Gentiles  and  apostates,  who  hope 
to  rise  at  the  last  day  and  claim  a  celestial  share  in  Brigham. 
And  do  the  women  really  believe  this  sort  of  thing?  you  ask. 
Well,  the  majority  do,  and  the  rest  fall  in  with  the  prevailing 
tendency  just  as  women  do  everywhere.  Woman's  ideas  of 
social  right  and  wrong  are  not  so  fixed  as  some  would  have  us 
believe ;  with  most  of  them  the  conventional  is  the  correct 
thing — whatever  is  established  is  right.  I  pause  here  to  stick 
my  pen  through  that  foolish  notion  so  prevalent  in  the  East,  that 
men  alone  are  responsible  for  polygamy ;  that  "  the  poor  women 
are  victims  "  merely,  and  to  be  pitied  but  not  blamed.  The  legal 
wife  often  is  a  victim,  no  doubt ;  but  the  woman  who  deliber- 
ately enters  a  family  to  take  a  share  in  another  woman's  hus- 
band, deserves  all  she  is  likely  to  get,  and  Congress  need  waste 


484  POLYGAMY;    OR,   THE    MYSTERIES 

no  time  in  trying  to  save  such  people  from  the  consequences  of 
their  own  folly.  Every  young  woman  who  "  goes  in  as  second  " 
does  so  in  the  confident  belief  she  will  always  be  the  favorite ; 
in  plain  English,  she  expects  to  rob  the  first  wife  of  her  hus- 
band, and  her  own  misery  is  not  a  whit  greater  than  it  should 
be.  The  debauchery  and  intemperance  already  developed 
among  Brigharu's  children  are  just  what  might  have  been 
expected  from  the  state  of  mind  of  their  mothers,  and  it  is 
already  evident  that  on  the  next  generation  the  curse  will  fall  in 
all  its  horror.  If  present  indications  do  not  mislead  the  student 
of  human  nature,  Brigham's  grand-children  will  supply  abun- 
dant materials  for  the  Laynio,  the  lunatic  asylum  and  the 
scaffold. 

It  is  a  noteworthy  fact  that  Brigham  never  made  a  success  of 
any  business  he  undertook  except  managing  the  Mormons 
Every  distant  colony  he  planted  proved  a  failure,  almost  ever}' 
business  enterprise  he  projected  resulted  in  a  total  loss.  First 
was  the  Cottouwood  canal,  to  run  from  Little  Cottonwood  to  the 
city,  float  in  stone  for  the  temple,  and  serve  many  other  pur-' 
poses.  It  was  constructed  at  great  expense,  and  then  it  was  dis- 
covered that  the  city  end  of  the  canal  was  about  ten  feet  higher 
than  the  Cottonwood  end,  where  the  water  was  to  be  turned  in  ! 
Water  would  not  run  uphill  even  for  a  Prophet,  and  the  dry 
channel  remains  a  beautiful  monument  to  "  Mormon  enter- 
prise." Brigham  made  four  attempts  at  manufacturing;  every 
one  proved  a  flat  failure.  The  manufacture  of  beet  sugar  was 
undertaken  under  his  special  direction,  and  $60,000  invested  in 
buildings  and  machinery.  It  proved  a  total  failure,  and  not  a 
dollar  was  ever  realized  by  those  who  invested. 

His  next  project  was  the  Colorado  Transportation  Company. 
All  the  goods  for  Utah  were  to  be  brought  by  steamers  up 
the  Colorado,  reducing  the  land  passage  to  four  or  five  hundred 


AND   CRIMES   OF    MOEMONISM.  485 

miles,  and  making  all  Southern  Utah  independent  of  the 
freighters  across  the  plains.  At  his  direction — at  his  command, 
rather — such  prominent  men  as  W.  S.  Godbe,  Henry  Law- 
rence, and  others,  subscribed  heavily  to  the  stock,  paying  in 
dollar  for  dollar,  and  the  "  long  warehouses"  at  Callville,  on 
the  Colorado,  were  erected.  They  still  stand,  freight  still 
comes  over  the  plains,  and  stock  in  the  "  Colorado  Company  " 
is  worth  four  cents  on  the  dollar  "  for  speculative  purposes.'7 
And  this  failure  was  not  due  to  the  railroad  ;  the  scheme  had 
collapsed  year&  before  the  Union  Pacific  started  out  of  Omaha. 
W.  S.  Godbe  cited  these  facts  when  he  was  on  trial  before  the 
"School  of  the  Prophets,"  as  proof  that  God  did  not  inspire 
men  in  business  matters;  that  experience  was  the  only  true 
guide  there.  Brigham  replied  that  the  stock  in  that  company 
would  yet  come  up  to  a  premium,  to  which  Godbe  rejoined 
with  a  sarcastic  offer  to  sell  his  to  Brigham  now  at  ten  cents  on 
the  dollar. 

Personally  Brigham  was  a  very  well-made  man,  put  up  to 
last  a  hundred  years;  his  mode  of  life  shortened  this  to 
seventy-six,  but  he  did  not  yield  to  death  without  a  sharp 
struggle.  Much  interest  was  felt  in  the  progress  of  his  sick- 
ness, especially  after  it  promised  to  be  fatal ;  but  there  were  no 
unusual  scenes  then,  or  at  his  death.  The  Mormon  papers 
came  out  in  mourning,  with  highly  eulogistic  reviews  of  his 
career.  The  co-operative  and  some  other  principal  Mormon 
stores  were  closed  and  dressed  in  mourning,  and  a  few  flags 
were  at  half-mast.  There  was  sincere  regret,  apparently,  tem- 
pered in  many  minds  by  the  reflection  that  it  was  better  so. 
The  remains  lay  in  state  in  the  Tabernacle  all  of  September 
first,  and  till  noon  of  the  second,  when  the  funeral  services 
were  celebrated.  The  great  hall  was  full :  ten  thousand  people 
were  present.  Organ,  pulpit,  and  galleries  were  appropriately 


486  POLYGAMY;    OR,   THE   MYSTERIES 

draped.  On  the  stand  were  the  dethroned  King's  councillors 
and  ten  of  the  Twelve  Apostles,  two  being  abroad,  the  band 
and  the  choir,  the  Mayor  and  Council  of  the  city,  500  ecclesi- 
astics, and  a  few  reporters.  In  front,  filling  eight  long  slips  of 
the  left  centre,  were  the  sons  and  daughters  by  blood  and  mar- 
riage of  the  deceased,  and  their  children.  Opposite  them,  in 
the  right  centre,  was  a  similar  group  of  wives  and  their  rela- 
tives, headed  by  his  first  wife  and  his  last  favorite,  Amelia, 
his  brothers  and  other  relatives,  distinguished  by  mourning 
colors.  Back  of  these  were  the  high  priests  and  the  seventies 
—elsewhere  everybody. 

At  high  noon  the  coffin  was  closed  and  placed  on  a  cata- 
falque at  the  head  of  the  centre  aisle  and  covered  with  flowers, 
the  band  playing  the  Dead  March  in  Saul.  The  services  then 
began  :  singing,  prayer,  and  brief  eulogistic  speeches  by  Coun- 
cillor Wells  and  several  of  the  Apostles.  There  was  less  allu- 
sion than  usual  to  their  wrongs,  no  imprecations  on  their 
enemies,  nothing  blustering.  The  speeches  were  commonplace 
and  in  the  same  vein  :  that  their  leader  was  dead  in  an  earthly 
sense  only ;  in  a  larger  sense  God  was  their  leader,  who  never 
dies.  If  prayers  could  have  kept  him  alive  longer,  he  would 
have  been  saved;  but  his  work  was  done.  He  had  fallen 
asleep  like  an  infant,  surrounded  by  his  friends.  He  had  gone 
home.  His  mind  was  of  unequalled  grasp.  Nothing  was  too 
large  or  too  small  for  it.  His  impress  was  upon  all  that  con- 
cerned them.  He  had  seen  his  dearest  wish  gratified  in  the 
completion  of  the  St.  George  Temple  and  the  proper  ordering 
of  the  sacred  rites  therein.  Let  us  finish  other  Temples  begun. 
Let  us  continue  his  work,  obey  his  counsels,  and  meet  him  in 
the  morning  of  the  resurrection,  when  his  spirit  and  body  will 
be  again  joined  together,  etc. 

He  had  written  directions  four  years  previously  for  his  inter- 


AND  CRIMES  OF   MORMONISM.  487 

ment,  and  these  Elder  Cannon  read.  They  were :  to  keep  his 
body  three  or  four  days  or  longer  if  possible.  The  coffin  to  be 
of  1J  inch  redwood  boards,  with  ample  room  for  him  to  turn 
to  the  right  or  the  left  if  he  chose,  a  pillow  to  be  placed  under 
his  head,  and  his  temple  clothes  on.  His  family  were  not  to 
buy  crape  for  the  occasion ;  the  ladies  might  wear  it  if  they  had 
it;  the  services  to  be  simple.  If  any  one  wanted  to  speak 
briefly,  all  right.  The  body  to  be  placed  on  a  bier  and  carried 
to  his  private  burying  lot,  where  a  stone  vault  was  to  be  pre- 
pared. The  coffin  to  be  placed  in  a  box  of  the  same  material, 
the  vault  covered  with  flat  stones,  and  nice,  dry,  fine  earth  put 
on  them.  There  to  rest  in  peace  and  have  a  good  sleep  until 
the  morning  of  the  resurrection.  There  was  to  be  no  weeping 
at  the  grave.  If  before  he  died  his  people  should  return  to 
Jackson  county,  Missouri,  he  wanted  to  be  buried  there. 

After  a  hymn  composed  for  the  occasion  and  the  benediction, 
the  people  quickly  left  the  room  and  grounds,  and  ranged 
themselves  along  the  route  to  the  cemetery.  Maybe  one  in 
fifty  was  in  tears.  The  procession  consisted  of  the  band  and 
Tabernacle  choir,  the  Mayor  and  City  Council,  Brigham 
Young's  four  brothers,  the  body,  borne,  surrounded  by  the 
Apostles,  the  family  and  relatives,  the  priests,  and  three  thou- 
sand people.  The  coffin  case  was  lowered  by  a  derrick.  A 
song  was  sung,  prayer  offered,  and  the  people  dispersed.  The 
ceremonies  were  marked  by  extreme  simplicity,  and  the  impar- 
tial spectator  felt  the  absence  of  impressiveness,  notwith- 
standing the  multitude  present.  The  mourning  was  wide 
rather  than  deep. 

Next  day  the  will  was  read.  Brigham  Young,  Jr.,  George 
Q.  Cannon  and  Albert  Carrington  were  appointed  executors. 
The  property  was  largely  real  estate,  and  supposed  to  be  worth, 
then,  $2,000,000  to  $3,000,000.  The  will  was  made  four  year* 


488  POLYGAMY. 

previously,  when  his  youngest  child,  born  of  Mary  Van  Cott, 
was  three  years  old.  He  was  the  father  of  fifty-six  children, 
and  left  seventeen  wives,  sixteen  sons  and  twenty-eight  daugh- 
ters. The  will  divided  the  property  equally  among  the  differ- 
ent families,  in  proportion,  as  near  as  might  be,  to  the  number 
of  children.  He  held  valuable  interests  in  trust  for  the  church, 
which  his  executors  were  directed  to  turn  over.  They  pro- 
ceeded to  do  so,  and  then  trouble  came,  not,  as  might  have  been 
expected,  from  the  legitimate  children  and  their  mother,  but 
from  the  seven  surviving  children  of  Emmeline  Free  Young, 
and  the  following  specification,  from  their  complaint,  shows  in 
part  the  ground  of  their  action,  namely : 

"  They  (the  executors)  have  pretended  to  allow,  and,  in  defi- 
ance of  statute  and  of  their  duty  in  such  cases,  have  fraudulently 
allowed  a  false  and  fraudulent  claim  against  the  estate  of  their 
testator,  on  the  10th  day  of  April,  1878,  which  claim  is  as 
follows : 

The  estate  of  Brigham  Young  to  John  Taylor  as  Trustee-in- 
Trust  for  the  Church  of  Jesus  Christ  of  Latter-day  Saints,  Dr. 

To  amount  of  balance  on  railroad  contract  account $  51,678.09 

To  amount  of  balance  due  on  Utah  Central  R.  R.  account    52,200.00 
To  Zion's  Co-operative  Mercantile  Institution  account.  ..     10,404.60 

To  errors  in  footing  and  extension  in  account 9,074.41 

To  balance  of  book  account  from  June  30,  1873 100,755.09 

To  real  estate,  Social  Hall  lot  and  building 17,438.97 

To  real  estate,  Museum  lot  and  building 4,000.00 

To  real  estate,  Council  House  lot  and  building 7,209.50 

To  amount  of  errors  in  credits  in  Pres.  Brigham  Young's 

private  account 628,867.18 

To  amount  to  reimburse  the  Trustee-in-Trtist  for  error  er- 
roneously credited  the  private  account  of  President  B. 
Young  for  subsistence  and  quartermaster  bills,  etc.,  as 
per  entry  of  August  28,  1866 30,000.00 

$811.627.84' 


BEIGHAM'S  APOSTATE  DAUGHTER. 


(489) 


490  POLYGAMY;    OR,  THE   MYSTERIES 

After  hearing,  the  court  appointed  two  receivers  for  the  es- 
tate, and  directed  the  executors  to  make  further  division  of  the 
listed  property.  They  replied  that  they  could  not.  They  had 
divided  part  of  the  property  amongst  the  various  families,  and 
turned  the  rest  over  to  the  church,  and  could  not  comply  with 
the  order  of  the  court.  They  were  thereupon  housed  in  the 
penitentiary  for  contempt,  where  they  stayed  until  the  dissatis-  k 
fied  heirs,  through  a  compromise,  agreed  to  take  $75,000  in 
full  for  their  claims.  President  John  Taylor  had  been  sued 
with  the  executors  as  the  recipient  of  part  of  the  estate  on  the 
part  of  the  church,  but  he  was  able  to  give  bonds  to  abide  the 
final  decision  of  the  suit,  and  these  were  accepted  by  the  court. 
In  the  nature  of  the  case  the  executors  could  not  do  this.  They 
were  in  jail  a  month.  Notwithstanding  this  substantial  suc- 
cess, all  the  other  heirs  were  kept  quiet  by  church  influence, 
and  have  been  to  this  day. 

The  Deseret  News,  while  these  proceedings  were  going  on, 
was  very  intemperate  in  its  denunciations  and  threats.  But  the 
Gentiles  laughed ;  for  it  was  a  Mormon  fight  on  both  sides.  It 
appeared  that  Brigham  Young  had  filched  a  vast  estate  from 
the  savings  of  the  poor,  and  bequeathed  it  to  his  heirs.  From 
them  the  church  filched  it  in  turn,  and  a  part  of  the  heirs  had 
the  pluck  to  sue  for  its  recovery.  Gentile  sympathy  was  with 
the  heirs  as  a  matter  of  course.  And  they  have  not  yet  ceased 
to  hope  that  other  heirs,  with  as  much  pluck  and  more  tenacity, 
will  again  bring  suit,  and  win  from  the  church  what  in  1877: 
was  a  million  in  property,  and  what,  before  the  youngest  child 
attains  its  majority,  will  have  become  five  millions.  It  was  in 
fraud  of  some  party  that  Brigham  Young  carried  church  prop- 
erty in  his  own  name,  and  if,  by  this  action,  it  became  in 
law  the  property  of  his  heirs,  it  would  be  but  poetic  justice 
any  way. 


AND   CRIMES   OF   MORMONISM.  491 

A  year  before  his  death,  Brigham  Young  appointed  his  son, 
John  W.,  one  of  his  councillors  vice  George  A.  Smith,  deceased. 
John  had  practically  renounced  polygamy,  but  there  is  little 
doubt  that  Brigham  desired  he  should  succeed  him,  and  John 
believed  that  he  would  do  so.  Soon  after  the  funeral  his  third 
wife,  Libby  Canfield,  of  Philadelphia,  who  had  weaned  him 
from  the  others  for  years,  finding  him  determined,  on  his 
father's  advice,  as  he  claimed,  to  take  a  new  woman  to  wife, 
left  him  in  a  rage  (they  do  say  she  slapped  his  face  at  parting 
on  the  train),  and  went  home  to  her  folks  in  Philadelphia. 
John  then  went  to  St.  George,  and  is  supposed  to  have  married 
Luella  Cobb,  pretty,  plump  and  seventeen.  When  he  returned 
he  sneaked  into  his  house  and  kept  a  guard  round  it  for  a 
week.  To  a  caller  he  appeared  very  anxious  to  know  whether 
there  was  a  warrant  out  for  him,  and  what  the  Mormons 
thought  of  his  new  plunge  into  polygamy. 

He  said  it  was  in  accordance  with  his  father's  wish.  But  it 
did  him  no  good  with  the  church  people.  For  after  "  prayer- 
fully waiting  upon  the  Lord,"  the  Twelve  Apostles  were 
moved  to  assume  the  reins  of  power  themselves.  They  voted 
themselves  all  Prophets,  but  John  Taylor's  revelations  were  to 
be  the  only  binding  ones!  He  was  President  of  the  Twelve. 
He  was  elected  Trustee-in -Trust,  with  Wilford  Woodruff, 
Erastus  Snow  and  Joseph  F.  Smith,  a  committee  to  audit  the 
accounts.  The  Twelve  on  this  occasion  voted  themselves  a 
regular  salary  of  $1,500  a  year,  payable  out  of  the  tithing  fund, 
and  thus  became,  as  they  say,  a  "  hireling  clergy."  The  people 
were  found  to  be  indebted  to  the  Immigration  Fund  a  round 
million.  A  committee  of  thirteen,  including  such  men  as  Wil- 
liam Jennings,  whom  the  late  ruler  could  find  no  use  for,  was 
appointed  to  collect  these  dues  and  manage  that  part  of  the 
business.  As  a  result,  a  year  or  so  later,  the  people  were  told 


492  POLYGAMY. 

that  most  of  this  debt  was  forgiven  them,  the  effect  of  business 
sense.  The  councillors  of  Brigham  were  made  councillors  to 
the  Twelve  Apostles,  and  receive  the  same  pay. 

This  arrangement  held  for  three  years,  when  Taylor  was 
made  President  of  the  church,  with  Joseph  F.  Smith  and 
George  Q.  Cannon  as  councillors.  Taylor  has  pursued  a  much 
more  conservative  course  than  was  expected.  He  has  relaxed 
the  iron  rule  of  his  predecessor,  and  possibly  thereby  strength- 
ened the  church.  Men  who  have  stood  aloof  from  the  church 
for  years,  repelled  by  Brigham's  arrogance  and  tyranny,  have 
been  drawn  back  by  Taylor's  milder  sway,  and  there  is  more 
union  in  the  church  now  than  formerly.  They  are  disposed  to 
give  more  play  to  the  democratic  principle,  and  even  pretend  to 
have  renounced  the  claim  to  infallibility.  They  interfere  in 
politics  less  than  formerly.  Following  Brighara's  death,  Wells 
was  dropped  from  the  mayoralty  of  Salt  Lake.  Feramorz  Lit- 
tle has  been  mayor  four  years,  and  city  affairs  have  been  much 
better  managed.  A  debt  of  $250,000  has  been  incurred  to 
bring  water  from  Lake  Utah  by  canal,  a  fine  park  adjoining 
the  city  traded  for,  the  streets  improved,  gas  and  water  mains 
extended,  and  in  the  neighborhood  of  §10,000  a  year,  formerly 
wasted  in  one  way  or  other,  saved.  It  is  said  that  the  church 
party  intended  to  run  Joseph  F.  Smith  for  mayor  last  Febru- 
ary, but  that  the  secular  liberal  Mormons  of  the  big  Co-op,  the 
Deseret  Bank,  the  City  Hall,  and  the  railroads  told  them 
there  would  be  a  split  if  they  persisted  in  it.  They  weakened, 
and  William  Jennings,  who  was  the  Gentile  candidate  eight 
years  ago,  was  elected  without  opposition.  This  may  serve  to 
explain,  in  part,  why  the  church  interferes  less  in  politics  than 
formerly.  President  Taylor  moved  into  the  Amelia  Palace  lairt 
New  Year's  day,  but  the  people  did  not  exactly  like  it.  He 
came  out  in  an  explanatory  statement  in  the  Neics.  There  goes 


HIS  "  PHILADELPHIA  WIFE  "  RETURNS  TO  HER  FRIENDS. 


(493) 


494  POLYGAMY;    OR,   THE    MYSTERIES 

a  story  that  the  house  is  haunted.  At  all  events,  after  three 
months  in  it,  it  is  reported  that  it  is  to  be  again  abandoned  and 
left  teuantless.  Mr.  Taylor  may  be  said  to  have  managed  judi- 
ciously, although  he  made  a  fatal  mistake  in  not  renouncing 
and  abandoning  polygamy  when  the  decision  in  the  Reynolds 
case  was  announced.  Possibly  he  and  his  people  are  like  an 
arrow  in  mid-flight,  incapable  of  arresting  or  guiding  their 
own  course. 

In  estimating  Brigham  Young  as  a  man,  it  must  be  remem- 
bered that  not  he,  but  Joseph  Smith  invented  the  ingenious 
and  complicated  machinery  of  the  Mormon  church.  Brigham 
Young  displayed  address  in  securing  the  supreme  power — the 
right  to  handle  the  lever  of  Joseph  Smith's  machine.  When 
that  pioneer  died  the  church  began  to  fall  to  pieces,  and  the 
absolute  necessity  for  a  strong  leader  brought  Brigham  Young 
forward.  During  the  forced  exodus  from  Illinois,  and  the 
march  through  Iowa  and  across  the  plains  to  Utah,  his  will  and 
energy  made  him  indispensable  to  the  people,  and  he  quickly 
acquired  an  ascendency  which  the  isolation  of  Utah  for  twenty 
years  enabled  him  to  maintain.  He  deemed  any  means  justifia- 
ble which  promised  to  advance  the  interests  of  the  cause  he  had 
espoused.  His  own  ascendency  was  identified  in  his  mind  with 
the  success  of  that  cause.  In  the  heart  of  the  continent,  sepa- 
rated by  vast  uninhabited  spaces  from  the  world,  sustained  by 
the  fanaticism  of  the  church  at  large,  he  was,  from  1847  to 
1869,  an  autocrat,  spiritual  and  temporal,  dispensing  life  and 
death  to  his  people,  and  to  his  enemies  when  within  his  reach. 
Here  he  publicly  proclaimed,  as  prime  tenets  of  his  church, 
polygamy,  blood-atonement,  and  absolutism.  At  the  same  time 
he  made  himself  the  father  of  the  common  people,  and  it  was 
through  their  devotion  that  he  was  enabled  to  intimidate  those 
who  aspired  to  rival  him  in  leadership.  It  was  thus  not  Brig- 


AND   CRIMES   OF   MORMONISM.  496 

ham  Young  who  spoke  and  did;  it  was  the  Mormon  people 
through  him.  That  he  used  the  church  machine  to  consolidate 
his  own  power  and  to  gather  wealth,  cannot  be  denied.  Within 
the  last  ten  years  of  his  life  his  influence  over  the  more  intelli- 
gent of  his  people  declined.  His  two  great  measures,  after  the 
completion  of  the  overland  railroad,  were  co-operative  mer- 
chandising and  communism.  Both  failed.  There  are  a  num- 
ber of  co-operative  stores,  so-called,  but  they  are  the  same  as 
corporations.  The  co-operative  principle  is  not  contained  in 
them.  Communism  got  started  only  in  a  very  few  instances, 
and  soon  fell  into  disfavor  and  practically  failed. 

How  the  thing  worked  may  be  seen  in  the  following  conver- 
sation, which  actually  occurred : 

Nephi. — "Let's  go  in  (they  go  in  to  Lemhi's  store  and 
saloon).  Now  then  we're  all  three  Mormons,  let's  take  a  drink 
(they  drink).  We  know  Mormonism's  true,  and  that's  where 
we  beat  'em  all.  You  know  ole  Heber  says,  '  They  kicked  us 
and  kicked  us,  and  kicked  us  out'n  the  fryin'  pan  inter  the  fire,' 
but  next  time  they  kick  us  it'll  be  out'ii  the  fire  right  inter  the 
house,  an'  that's  where  we  are  now." 

Lemhi. — "  Well  you  don't  know  how  soon  they'll  kick  us  out 
ag'in,  so  you'd  better  look  wild." 

Nephi. — "  We  said  it,  an'  it's  a  great  thing  to  say  :  ain't  it  ? 
I  know  Mormonism's  true,  but  for  all  that,  there's  lots  o'  things 
in  it  that  isn't  right.  I  were  brought  up  to  the  woolen  business, 
'n  by  hell  I  never  thought  I'd  have  to  be  a  charcoal-burner, 
an'  if  Brigham  'd  had  his  way  I  wouldn't  ha'  been.  We  all 
remember  when  ole  Gills  (a  Gentile)  come  out  an'  foun'  a  silver 
lead  an'  went  an'  telled  Brigham,  an'  how  Brigham  asked  him 
where  it  was,  and  said  he  thought  they  could  maybe  do  someat 
wi'  it,  an'  callin'  Porter  Rockwell,  says,  '  Porter,  go  with  him 
and  see  what  'tis,  an' — whisperin'  'n  Porter's  ear — then  make 


496  POLYGAMY  ;    OR,   THE   MYSTERIES 

him  shorter  by  a  neck  ! '  It's  may  be  a  little  rough,  but  for 
all  that  Mormonism's  true.  You  see,  if  Brighara  'd  had  his 
way,  there  'd  been  no  mining  and  no  charcoal-burning,  and 
that  maybe  'd  be  wuss  yet,  for  here's  this  Enoch,  you  know, 
they  come  down  South  an'  preached  up  Enoch,  an'  we  had  to 
go  in ;  an'  I  put  in  a  house  that  cost  $700  an'  a  good  farm  be- 
sides, an'  now  I  don't  own  a  damn  cent — let's  take  another  drink 
— after  bein'  here  workin'  hard  fifteen  years.  But  for  all  that, 
Mormonism's  true,  an'  't  '11  all  come  straight  somehow." 

John  Bull. — "  Have  you  got  to  purchase  that  back  again, 
then?" 

Nephi. — "  Yes,  I've  got  to  pay  money  or  somethin'  else  if 
ever  I  get  it." 

John  Bull. — "  Have  you  given  a  deed  for  it  ?  " 

Nephi.— "Yes." 

John  Bull— "  Who  to?" 

Nephi. — "  Trustee  in  trust,  I  suppose/' 

John  Bull. — "  Yes,  'n  his  sons  are  spendin'  more  every  day 
than  you've  had  in  fifteen  years,  and  some  of  'era  gettin'  a  col- 
lege education,  while  your  sons  hasn't  shoes  to  wear  an'  can't 
read  their  own  names." 

Nephi. — "I  don't  like  to  hear  you  talk  that  way.  We  know 
Mormonism's  true  an'  't  '11  all  come  right  somehow." 

John  Butt. — "  Who  made  out  the  deed  and  was  there  a  con- 
sideration ?  'cause  if  there  wasn't  'tisn't  worth  nothin  V 

Nephi. — "That  damned  up-rigged-back  feller  (Musser,  a 
hunch-backed  tithing  auditor)  from  Provo,  he  come  out  and 
made  the  deed." 

Lemhi. — "Aye,  and  you  bet  your  damned  life  he  made  it  out 
for  a  consideration ;  they  know  enough  for  that." 

Brigham  Young  colonized  a  Territory  of  the  United  States, 
but  somehow  all  the  other  Territories  have  got  themselves 


AND   CRIMES    OF    MORMONISM.  497 

colonized  too.  Two  years  before  be  died,  on  his  return  from 
St.  George,  he  characterized  his  people  as  among  the  most 
destitute  and  miserable  of  mankind.  From  end  to  end  of  Utah 
they  were  barely  living,  yet  the  leaders  were  rolling  in  plenty. 
No  free  schools,  no  hospitals,  insane  or  deaf  and  dumb  asylums. 
The  surplus  earnings  of  the  people  were  absorbed  in  tithings; 
donations,  missionizing,  immigrating  converts,  building  temples, 
marrying  and  preaching.  No  growth  or  prosperity  visible. 
The  railroads  and  mines  were  operated  by  Gentiles,  while  the 
Mormons  "lived  their  religion,"  tilled  their  little  plats  of 
ground,  and  grew  poorer  and  more  wretched  every  year.  His 
remedy  was  to  have  them  deed  all  their  property  over  to  the 
Bishops,  and  put  their  possessions  as  well  as  their  persons  abso- 
lutely at  the  disposal  of  the  Church.  This  is  the  ideal  Mormon 
Church-State. 

It  suggests  the  query — What  have  the  Mormons,  as  a  nation, 
done  under  Brigham  Young's  leadership?  Founded  a  State, 
but  on  a  model  abandoned  by  mankind  ages  ago — on  the  en- 
slavement of  men  and  the  dehumanizing  of  women.  This 
State  has  carried  on  war  with  the  Indians,  the  immigrants,  and 
the  United  States.  It  first  tried  to  convert  the  Indians.  Then 
it  fought  them  three  years  in  the  South,  was  driven  out  of 
three  counties  containing  thirty  settlements,  and  ended  by  pay- 
ing them  tribute.  On  the  North,  General  Connor's  Bear  River 
fight  has  given  them  peace  since  1863.  It  has  always  fought 
immigrants  not  of  its  faith,  although  the  only  pitched  battle 
was  at  Mountain  Meadows.  It  occupied  what  is  now  Nevada, 
but  when  immigrants  came  in  and  mines  were  discovered,  a 
conflict  began  from  which  the  Mormons  retired  on  Salt  Lake 
City.  It  tried  to  retard  the  advance  of  the  United  States 
forces  in  the  cafions  eastv,  ^rd,  but  they  marched  into  Utah, 

the  new  civil  officers  were  installed,  and  the  Mormons  gained, 
32 


498  POLYGAMY;   OR,   THE    MYSTERIES 

what  ? — a  pardon  and  the  name  of  traitors  and  rebels.  It  at- 
tempted to  isolate  itself  from  the  world  in  body  as  it  had  in 
spirit.  The  world  has  surmounted  its  Chinese  wall  and  now 
overwhelms  it.  Bearing  the  condition  of  the  Utah  people  in 
mind,  and  considering  Brigham  Young's  opportunities,  was  he 
to  any  sense  a  successful  man  ? 


AND   CRIMES   OF    MORMON1SM.  •  499 


CHAPTER  XXII. 

DISSENTING   MORMON   SECTS. 

Natural  tendency  to  dissent — The  Nauvoo  break-up— James  Jesse  Strang— 
Reappearance  of  Dr.  John  C.  Bennett — Voree — Kingdom  on  Beaver 
Island — Murder  of  Strang — Joseph  Morris— Trouble  with  the  law — Murder 
of  Morris,  Banks  and  the  women — Dispersion  of  the  Morrisites — "  Reor- 
ganized Church  " — Young  Joe  Smith — David  Hyrum  Smith — William 
Alexander  Smith — Raid  of  1869 — Present  condition — Godbeites — Changes 
in  the  Brighamite  Church. 

INTELLECTUAL  development,  or  even  excitement,  is  fatal  to 
religious  uniformity;  for  in  a  domain  where  so  much  depends 
on  emotion,  and  where  the  moral  weight  of  the  proof  depends 
on  the  moral  condition  of  the  subject,  any  intellectual  move- 
ment is  almost  certain  to  be  followed  by  apostasy  and  schism. 
Those  countries  in  which  there  are  no  sects  are  those  in  which 
there  is  little  thought  given  to  religion,  and  little  real  liberty 
of  any  kind;  and  we  note  in  history  that  each  era  of  great  en- 
ergy in  thought  and  action  has  also  been  an  era  of  ecclesias- 
tical chaos.  We  need  not  be  surprised,  therefore,  to  find  that 
each  crisis  in  the  Mormon  Church  has  given  birth  to  schisms ; 
and  that  the  original  organization  has  from  time  to  time  given 
rise  to  no  less  than  twenty -five  sects,  ites  and  isms,  of  which  six 
or  seven,  besides  the  main  branch  in  Utah,  still  preserve  a  sort 
of  moribund  existence.  As  with  the  non-juring  bishops  of  Angli- 
can history,  secession  once  begun  constantly  repeated  itself;  the 
recusant  and  deposed  priests  in  turn  denounced  and  deposed  all 
who  questioned  their  prophetic  right,  and  each  of  the  sects  sol- 


500 


POLYGAMY. 


ernnly  points  to  all  the  others  as  blind  and  erring  apostates, 
whose  feet  are  treading  on  the  straight  line  to  hell. 

Sidney  Rigdon  led  from  Nauvoo  a  small  colony  to  Pennsyl- 
vania, but  soon  lost  control  of  them;,  a  remnant  settled  in 
eastern  Kentucky,  and  long  maintained  a  poor  dying  life,  a  few 
returning  to  the  Brighamites,  from  whom  they  again  turned 
away  and  joined  themselves  to  young  Joseph  Smith.  The  small 
party  which  followed  William  Smith,  only  surviving  brother 
of  the  Prophet,  to  northern  Illinois,  soon  dissolved.  Elder 
Brewster  took  another  party  to  western  Iowa,  and  Bishop 
Heddrick,  a  considerable  sect  into  Missouri,  both  of  which  fell 
to  pieces  on  the  death  of  the  leaders ;  but  the  remnants  after- 
wards got  together  under  a  new  prophet,  and  formed  the  sect 
known  as  "  Gatherers."  They  and  the  Twelvites  are  attempt- 
ing to  gather  and  settle  again  in  Jackson  county.  Bishop  Cutler 
also  led  off  a  small  party  in  northern  Iowa,  and  after  his  death 
most  of  them  returned  to  the  "  Reorganized  Church/'  or 
Joseph  ites. 

But  of  all  the  imitators  of  Joseph  Smith  none  had  so  remark- 
able a  career,  or  came  so  near  a  success  as  James  Jesse  Strang, 
King  of  the  Beaver  Island  Mormons.  This  extraordinary  ad- 
venturer was  born  in  Cayuga  county,  New  York,  March  21st, 
1813,  and,  like  nearly  all  the  original  Mormons,  was  a  born 
controversialist.  His  fluency  in  debate,  aided  as  it  was  by  his 
habit  of  omnivorous  reading,  attracted  early  attention ;  and 
when  he  was  admitted  to  the  bar,  at  the  early  age  of  twenty- 
three,  a  great  future  was  predicted  for  him.  In  1843  he  was 
in  a  law  firm  in  Burlington,  Wisconsin,  but  was  considered 
erratic.  He  was  of  moral  life,  but  eccentric.  In  January, 
1844,  he  visited  Nauvoo,  embraced  Mormon  ism,  was  very 
warmly  received  by  the  Prophet  Smith,  and  appointed  to 
"plant  a  stake  of  Zion  in  Wisconsin,"  While  active  in  this 


POLYGAMY;    OR,    THE    MYSTERIES  501 

work,  Smith  was  killed,  and  Strang  at  once  produced  an  epistle 
dated  nine  days  before  Smith's  death,  in  which  the  latter  gives 
the  following  as  the  "  Voice  of  God  to  Elder  Strang: " 

"  .  .  .  .  My  servant  Joseph,  thou  hast  been  faithful  over 
many  things,  and  thy  reward  is  glorious;  the  crown  and  sceptre 
are  thine,  and  they  wait  thee.  But  thou  hast  sinned  in  some 
things,  and  thy  punishment  is  bitter.  The  whirlwind  goeth 
before,  and  its  clouds  are  dark,  but  rest  followeth,  and  to  its 
days  there  shall  be  no  end.  Study  the  words  of  the  vision,  for 
it  tarrieth  not. 

"And  now  behold  my  servant  James  J.  Strang  hath  come  to 
thee  from  far  for  truth  when  he  knew  it  not,  and  hath  not  re- 
jected it,  but  had  faith  in  thee,  the  Shepherd  and  Stone  of 
Israel,  and  to  him  shall  the  gathering  of  the  people  be,  for  he 
shall  plant  a  stake  of  Zion  in  Wisconsin,  and  I  will  establish 
it;  and  there  shall  my  people  have  peace  and  rest,  and  shall  not 
be  moved,  for  it  shall  be  established  on  White  river,  in  the 

lands  of  Racine  and  Walworth And  I  will  have  a  house 

built  unto  me  there  of  stone,  and  there  will  I  show  myself  to 
my  people  by  many  mighty  works,  and  the  name  of  the  city 
shall  be  called  Voree,  which  is,  being  interpreted,  garden  of 
peace,  for  there  shall  my  people  have  peace  and  rest,  and  wax 
fat  and  pleasant  in  the  presence  of  their  enemies." 

Of  course  the  Twelve  Apostles  kicked,  and  pronounced  the 
letter  a  forgery  and  Strang  an  impostor;  he  was  driven  from 
the  field  at  Nauvoo,  but  took  along  some  of  the  best  men  in  the 
church,  and  soon  had  a  flourishing  church.  The  Voree  Herald 
was  set  up  as  their  organ,  and  the  Strangites  soon  established 
communism  of  goods.  And  here  we  get  the  last  view  of  our 
old  acquaintance,  Dr.  John  Cooke  Bennett.  In  his  book,  ex- 
posing the  Mormons  at  Nauvoo,  he  declared  that  he  never  had 
any  faith  in  the  doctrine,  but  only  assumed  belief  to  qualify 


502  AND   CRIMES   OF   MORMON  ISM. 

himself  for  exposing  it!  He  now  united  with  the  Strangites, 
Decanted  his  scandalous  denial,  and  figured  very  prominently  at 
Voree  in  1846.  Thereafter  he  led  an  exceedingly  miscellaneous 
life,  and  I  am  informed  by  one  who  knew  him,  I  know  not  how 
truly,  that  he  finally  sank  under  a  loathsome  disease  and  died  a 
horrible  death.  Strang  followed  the  outlines  of  Smith's  career 
and  policy  pretty  closely,  and  soon  produced  a  set  of  plates  he 
had  found  in  the  bank  of  White  river.  These  he  also  trans- 
lated with  his  Urim  and  Thummim.  They  were  merely  sup-' 
plementary  to  Joseph's  plates.  The  following  is  a  fair  extract 
from  Strang's  translation : 

"My  people  are  no  more.  The  mighty  are  fallen,  and  the 
young  men  slain  in  battle. 

"Their  bones  bleached  on  the  plain  by  the  noon-day  shadow. 
The  houses  are  levelled  with  the  dust,  and  in  the  moat  are  the 
walls.  They  shall  be  inhabited. 

"  I  have  in  the  burial  served  them ;  and  their  bones  in  the 
death-shade,  towards  the  sun's  rising,  are  covered.  They 
sleep  with  the  mighty  dead,  and  they  rest  with  their  fathers. 
They  have  fallen  in  transgression,  and  are  not;  but  the  elect 
and  faithful  there  shall  dwell. 

"The  Word  hath  revealed  it.  God  hath  sworn  to  give  an 
inheritance  to  his  people  where  transgressors  perished.  The 
Word  of  God  came  to  me  while  I  mourned  in  the  death-shade, 
saying,  I  will  avenge  me  on  the  destroyer.  They  shall  be 
driven  out.  Other  strangers  shall  inhabit  thy  land.  I  an  en- 
sign will  then  set  up.  The  escaped  of  my  people  there  shall 
dwell,  when  the  flock  disowns  the  shepherd,  and  build  not  on 
the  rock. 

"The  forerunner  men  shall  kill,  but  a  mighty  Prophet  there 
shall  dwell.  I  will  be  his  strength,  and  he  shall  bring  forth 
the  record.  Record  my  word,  and  bury  it  in  the  hill  of  prom- 
ise. "RAJAH  MANCHORE." 


POLYGAMY.  503 

Of  course  the  Strangites  were  hugely  delighted  with  this 
promise,  and  surrendered  all  power  to  Strang.  Little  by  little 
he  transferred  his  community  to  Beaver  Island,  in  Lake  Michi- 
gan, their  settlement  there  being  resisted  with  much  violence 
by  the  fishermen,  lumbermen  and  others  already  on  that  and 
adjacent  islands.  But  by  1850  the  Strangites  were  practically 
masters  of  the  island.  St.  James  was  made  the  royal  residence,, 
a  printing  press  was  set  up,  a  kingdom  organized  and  permis- 
sion granted  a  few  persons  to  take  extra  wives.  Their  paper, 
the  Northern  Islander,  was  quite  a  success.  Saturday  was  ob- 
served as  the  Sabbath,  and  total  abstinence  from  whiskey  and 
tobacco  enforced.  The  women  wore  the  Bloomer  costume. 
Offenders  were  publicly  whipped,  Strang  often  performing 
the  job  himself.  The  internal  police  of  the  island  was  very 
rigid;  wealth  and  comfort  increased,  and  the  population  grew 
to  n'early  2,000.  But  the  hostility  of  outsiders  grew  even  fas- 
ter and  in  1851  they  procured  an  indictment  against  Strang  foi 
high  treason — on  the  ground  that  he  had  assumed  the  title  of 
King! 

A  United  States  steamer  appeared;  Strang  was  arrested, 
taken  to  Detroit,  tried  and  acquitted.  Meanwhile  he  had  writ- 
ten some  valuable  papers  on  the  natural  history  of  the  island, 
and  acquired  some  reputation  as  a  scholar.  But  the  inevitable 
end  was  approaching — the  fate,  soon  or  late,  of  all  local  theo- 
cracies set  up  in  the  midst  of  our  fierce  American  democracy. 
For  years  there  was  a  sullen,  often  bloody,  border  feud  between 
the  "  kingdom  "  and  its  neighbors.  It  is  idle  to  go  over  the  old 
items  of  complaint;  the  real  causes  all  centre  in  one:  the 
American  people  simply  won't  have  a  theocracy  established 
among  them.  They  will  not  allow  a  church  to  administer  civil 
affairs  under  any  pretence,  and  theocrats  may  as  well  recognize 
that  truth  and  spare  their  labors.  Apostates  multiplied  and 


r,04 

threatened  death  to  Strang;  and  finally  three  of  them,  Alex- 
ander Wentworth,  Thomas  Bedford,  and  Dr.  H.  D.  McCulloch 
concocted  a  plan  for  his  destruction. 

On  June  16,  1856,  the  United  States  steamer  Michigan  was 
at  anchor  in  Beaver  Harbor,  and  King  Strang  left  his  house  in 
the  afternoon  to  call  upon  her  officers.  As  he  was  stepping 
upon  the  deck,  Bedford  and  Wentworth  sprang  from  behind  a 
convenient  wood-pile,  and  fired  upon  him  with  a  navy  pistol 
and  a  revolver.  His  death  was  not  immediate,  and  in  a  few 


PRUl'HET  STKANG'S   LAST     REVELATION. 

days  he  was  removed  to  Voree,  where  he  received  the  devoted 
care  of  the  lawful  wife  of  his  purer  days,  an  estimable  woman, 
who  had  rejected  his  gross  "revelations,"  but  clung  to  her  per- 
sonal belief  that  death  alone  could  release  her  from  the  obliga- 
tions of  the  marriage  vow.  He  died  on  July  9,  after  dictating 
his  final  instructions,  and  was  buried  in  a  still  unmarked  grave 
in  the  "  Cemetery  of  the  Saints  "  at  Spring  Prairie. 

His  people  at  once  prepared  for  removal,  but  in  a  few  days  a 
oand  of  armed  men  from  the  mainland  descended  upon  their 


AND   CRIMES   OF   MORMONISM.  505 

settlements.  The  tabernacle  was  burned,  the  printing  office 
was  sacked,  the  king's  library  was  destroyed,  and  his  house  pil- 
laged. The  faithful  among  the  Saints  were  given  but  one  day 
in  which  to  leave  the  island  with  their  movables  and  stock,  and 
even  then  they  were  driven  on  board  the  boats  without  the 
property  which  they  had  brought  to  the  shore.  The  invaders 
used  the  axe  and  the  torch  freely,  but  the  homesteads  and  im- 
provements of  the  exiles  they  seized  and  occupied.  The  Strang- 
ites  fled  to  Wisconsin  and  Illinois,  and  the  survivors  who  did 
not  apostatize  are  now  among  the  Joseph ites. 

When  the  church  set  out  from  Nauvoo,  the  Apostles  issued 
orders  to  Elder  Sam  Bran  nan,  then  in  New  York,  to  proceed 
with  a  party  by  sea  to  their  intended  destination  in  California. 
He  accordingly  sailed  soon  after  in  the  ship  "  Brooklyn,"  with 
a  body  of  two  hundred  and  forty-six  foreign  converts,  and 
$60,000  in  gold,  the  property  of  the  church;  but,  arriving  at 
San  Francisco  (then  Yerba  Buena),  when  the  country  was  first 
attracting  attention,  he,  and  many  of  his  party,  apostatized  and 
remained  there.  He  invested  the  Church  funds  in  real  estate, 
and  became  one  of  San  Francisco's  wealthiest  citizens ;  but  has 
since  repaid  the  money  to  the  church  with  interest. 

Soon  after,  Bishop  Lyman  Wight  led  another  large  party  to 
Texas,  where  they  increased  greatly,  and  were  for  some  years 
highly  prosperous.  They  at  first  acknowledged  allegiance  to 
the  Twelve  Apostles,  but  when  Brigham  took  the  reins  they 
grew  restive;  when  polygamy  was  avowed,  Wight  solemnly 
"cut  off"  the  Salt  Lake  Mormons,  and  no  long  time  after  was 
himself  cut  off  by  death,  and  his  flock  scattered  for  want  of  a 
shepherd. 

Soon  after  the  founding  of  Salt  Lake  City,  a  large  colony  of 
Mormons  was  also  established  in  San  Bernardino  county,  Cali- 
fornia; but  they  were  too  far  from  headquarters,  to  be  governed 


506  POLYGAMY;    OB,   THE   MYSTERIES 

either  by  Apostles  or  Danites,  and  soon  became  entangled  in 
the  politics  and  public  interests  of  the  State.  Orders  were 
issued  for  their  return  to  Utah,  a  few  obeyed,  and  the  remain- 
der "  lost  the  spirit  and  fell  into  apostasy."  But  it  is  a  fixed 
fact  that  ninety-nine  out  of  a  hundred  who  have  believed 
Mormonism  for  ten  years  are  ever  after  unfit  for  any  sensible 
faith;  apostates  from  Mormonism  are  generally  infidels  or 
visionaries,  Millenarians,  Adventists  or  lunatics;  and  the  San 
Bernardino  schismatics,  in  a  body,  embraced  Spiritualism. 
From  the  unseen  world  a  revelation  was  received,  that  a  youth 
of  one  of  the  old  Mormon  families  would  in  time  be  called  as  a 
prophet,  and  unite  the  whole  church ;  but  unfortunately  the 
young  man  died  soon  after,  and  San  Bernardino  was  left  with- 
out a  prophet.  A  few  returned  to  the  parent  organization,  and 
a  few  to  the  "Reorganized  Church;"  insanity  prevailed  to  an 
amazing  extent  among  the  remainder,  who  long  contributed 
from  twelve  to  twenty  additions,  per  year,  to  the  insane  asylum 
at  Stockton ;  and  it  is  reported,  that  institution  once  contained 
a  hundred  of  the  sect. 

Deducting  all  preliminary  secessions,  nearly  20,000  followed 
the  Twelve  Apostles  from  Nauvoo,  of  whom  no  more  than 
10,000  ever  reached  Utah.  Throughout  their  Iowa  pilgrim- 
age bands  and  parties  fell  away  like  sparks  from  a  flying 
meteor,  and  almost  every  "stake"  soon  became  a  village  of 
recusant  Mormons;  Garden  Grove,  Mount  Pisgah,  Council 
Bluffs,  Florence  and  Columbus  were  originally  settled  by  these 
apostates,  and  considerable  bodies  gathered  to  Nebraska  City, 
Omaha  and  other  river  towns.  Dr.  Isaac  Galland  died  in 
obscurity  in  Iowa,  and  nearly  all  the  old  Nauvoo  allies  of  Joe 
Smith  ended  their  days  in  the  gutter,  the  penitentiary  or  the 
poor-house.  But  thousands  of  those  who  had  honestly  em- 
braced Mormonisra,  and  abandoned  it  only  when  convinced  of 
the  imposture,  became  valuable  citizens  among  the  Gentiles. 


AND   CRIMES   OF    MORMONISM.  507 

In  all  these  branch  organizations  there  was  no  isolation  from 
the  world,  no  repressive  power,  and  no  one  man  to  seize  the 
reins  and  drive  ruthlessly  forward,  regardless  alike  of  the 
sufferings  of  his  people  and  the  lives  of  his  enemies ;  hence,  in- 
herent weakness  increased,  and  they  fast  decayed.  But  in 
Utah  Brigham  was  absolute;  he  had  perfect  isolation,  and 
talent  without  the  troublesome  adjunct  of  a  conscience,  and* 
there  despotism  was  a  success.  Nevertheless,  even  in  Utah 
there  have  been  no  less  than  four  distinct  and  organized 
attempts  to  throw  off  the  yoke  of  Brigham,  and  "  return  to  a 
more  perfect  faith."  None  of  these  bodies  have  professed  a 
desire  to  break  up  the  church,  only  to  purify  it. 

The  first  was  by  the  sect  known  as  "  Gladdenites."  It  will 
be  remembered  that  Gladden  Bishop  was  condemned  at  Nau- 
voo ;  but  he  soon  after  came  back  to  the  church,  and  other 
recusants  were  beginning  to  return,  when,  in  1852,  polygamy 
was  avowed,  and  to  this  and  other  new  features  the  Gladden- 
ites were  opposed.  Their'  mission  in  Salt  Lake  City  was 
headed  by  one  Albert  Smith,  from  St.  Louis,  and  seems  to 
have  made  sufficient  progress  to  stir  up  the  Brighamites,  who 
have  left  about  the  only  history  we  have  of  the  sect  in  Utah. 
The  following  extract  from  a  "  sermon "  by  Brigham  will 
clearly  indicate  how  this  movement  was  crushed : 

"  I  will  ask,  What  has  produced  your  persecutions  and  sor- 
row? What  has  been  the  starting-point  of  all  your  afflictions? 
They  began  with  apostates  in  your  midst;  those  disaffected 
spirits  caused  others  to  come  in,  worse  than  they,  who  would 
run  out  and  bring  in  all  the  devils  they  possibly  could.  That 
has  been  the  starting-point  and  grand  cause  of  all  our  difficul- 
ties, every- time  we  were  driven.  I  am  coming  to  this  place — 
I  am  coming  nearer  home.  ...  Do  we  see  apostates  among  us 
now  ?  We  do. 


508  POLYGAMY;  OR,  THE  MYSTERIES 

"  When  a  man  comes  right  out  like  an  independent  devil, 
and  says,  '  Damn  Mormonism  and  all  the  Mormons/  and  is  off 
with  himself  to  California,  I  say  he  is  a  gentleman  by  the  side 
of  a  nasty,  sneaking  apostate,  who  is  opposed  to  nothing  but 
Christianity.  I  say  to  the  former,  '  Go  in  peace,  sir,  and  pros- 
per if  you  can/  But  we  have  a  set  of  spirits  here,  worse  than 
such  a  character.  When  I  went  from  meeting  last  Sabbath, 
my  ears  were  saluted  with  an  apostate,  crying  in  the  streets 
here.  I  want  to  know  if  any  one  of  you  who  has  got  the  spirit 
of  Mormonism  in  you,  the  spirit  that  Joseph  and  Hyrum  had, 
or  that  we  have  here,  would  say,  '  Let  us  hear  both  sides  of  the 
question.  Let  us  listen  and  prove  all  things/  What  do  you 
want  to  prove  ?  Do  you  want  to  prove  that  an  old  apostate, 
who  has  been  cut  off  from  the  church  thirteen  times  for  lying, 
is  anything  worthy  of  notice?  I  heard  that  a  certain  picture- 
maker  in  this  city,  when  the  boys  would  have  moved  away  the 
wagon  in  which  this  apostate  was  standing,  became  violent 
with  them,  saying,  *  Let  this  man  alone ;  these  are  Saints  that 
you  are  persecuting/  [Sneeringly.] 

"  We  want  such  men  to  go  to  California,  or  anywhere  they 
choose.  I  say  to  those  persons,  '  You  must  not  court  persecu- 
tion here,  lest  you  get  so  much  of  it  you  will  not  know  what  to 
do  with  it.  Do  NOT  court  persecution/  We  have  known 
Gladden  Bishop  for  more  than  twenty  years,  and  know  him  to 
be  a  poor,  dirty  curse.  Here  is  sister  Vilate  Kimball,  brother 
Heber's  wife,  has  borne  more  from  that  man  than  any  other 
woman  on  earth  could  bear ;  but  she  won't  bear  it  again.  I 
say  again,  you  Gladdenites,  do  not  court  persecution,  or  you 
will  get  more  than  you  want,  and  it  will  come  quicker  than 
you  want  it. 

"  I  say  to  you,  Bishops,  do  not  allow  them  to  preach  in  your 
wards.  Who  broke  the  roads  to  these  valleys  ?  Did  this  lit- 


AND    CRIMES   OF    MORMONISM.  509 

tie  nasty  Smith,  and  his  wife  ?  No.  They  stayed  in  St.  Louis 
while  we  did  it,  peddling  ribbons,  and  kissing  the  Gentiles.  I 
know  what  they  have  done  here — they  have  asked  exorbitant 
prices  for  their  nasty,  stinking  ribbons.  [Voices,  'That's 
true/]  We  broke  the  roads  to  this  country. 

"  Now,  you  Gladdenites,  keep  your  tongues  still,  lest  sudden 
destruction  come  upon  you.  I  say,  rather  than  that  apostates 
should  flourish  here,  I  will  unsheathe  my  bowie-knife,  and 
conquer  or  die.  [Great  commotion  in  the  congregation,  and  a 
simultaneous  burst  of  feeling,  assenting  to  the  declaration.] 
Now,  you  nasty  apostates,  clear  out,  or  'judgment  will  be  laid 
to  the  line,  and  righteousness  to  the  plummet.'  [Voices  gener- 
ally, '  Go  it,  go  it.']  If  you  say  it  is  all  right,  raise  your  hands. 
[All  hands  up.]  Let  us  call  upon  the  Lord  to  assist  us  in  this 
and  every  other  good  work."  (Published  in  Journal  of  Dis- 
courses, Vol.  II.,  p.  82.) 

It  must  be  remembered  that  all  these  sermons  are  quoted  ex- 
actly as  reported  by  the  Mormons  themselves  and  printed  in 
the  church  paper,  that  Brigham  carefully  revises  them  before 
they  are  printed ;  and  that  they  are  frequently  so  pared  down 
and  modified,  with  most  of  the  oaths  and  obscenity  struck  out, 
that  it  is  difficult  for  the  hearer  to  recognize  the  published 
form.  In  another  part  of  the  above  harangue,  Brigham  warns 
the  Gladdenites  that  they  "  were  not  playing  with  shadows,  but 
were  trying  to  fool  with  the  voice  and  hand  of  the  Almighty, 
and  would  find  themselves  badly  mistaken,"  and  after  relating 
a  parable  on  the  death  of  dissenters,  concludes,  "  I  will  un- 
sheathe that  little  bosom-pin  I  used  to  wear  at  Nauvoo." 

Orson  Hyde  also  dropped  into  parables,  saying  that  "wolves 
might  get  among  the  sheep;  but  we  want  all  men  to  understand 
there  are  dogs  set  to  guard  the  sheep,  and  the  dogs  have  mighty 
sharp  teeth !  "  The  effect  of  such  preaching  was  horrible,  and 


510  POLYGAMY;    OR,   THE   MYSTERIES 

that  some  of  the  Gladdenites  were  murdered  outright  is  beyond 
a  doubt.  But  the  church  authorities  seem  to  have  been  fearful 
that  a  spirit  of  rebellion  might  still  lurk  in  the  minds  of  the 
people,  and  determined  to  stamp  out  the  last  traces  of  apostasy. 
To  this  end  the  doctrine  of  "blood-atonement"  was  intro- 
duced, and  there  is  testimony,  though  not  conclusive,  that  some 
of  these  unfortunate  apostates  were  actually  sacrificed  in 
the  Endowment  House,  "to  atone  for  their  sins  and  savt 
their  souls." 

With  these  plain  directions  to  an  ignorant  and  fanatical 
people,  from  those  they  looked  upon  as  the  incarnate  voice  of 
God,  the  fate  of  the  Gladdenites  is  easily  foreseen.  Those  who 
could;  escaped  to  California;  the  others  recanted  or  "atoned/' 
and  we  hear  no  more  of  them  after  1854. 

Second  in  order  of  time  was  the  sect  kno\vn  as  "  Morrisites," 
whose  history  is  substantially  as  follows : 

Joseph  Morris  was  a  native  of  Manchester,  England,  and 
came  to  Utah  among  the  early  converts.  Like  thousands  of 
others,  he  thought  that  the  pure  truth  delivered  by  Joseph 
Smith  had  been  corrupted,  and  conceived  the  design  of  effecting 
a  grand  reformation  in  the  church.  According  to  his  own 
account,  while  engaged  in  reflection  on  the  subject,  he  was  one 
day  in  the  pastures  beyond  Jordan,  when  he  was  favored  with 
a  glorious  vision,  and  by  command  of  Christ,  Enos  (son  of 
Seth),  John  the  Baptist  and  the  archangel  Michael,  who  con- 
stitute the  triune  mission  of  Mormonism,  appeared  and  en- 
dowed him  with  the  holy  priesthood,  as  the  true  successor  of 
Joseph  Smith. 

On  announcing  his  mission  he  was  at  once  an  object  of  in- 
terest to  all  persons  at  South  Weber,  his  residence,  some  thirty 
miles  north  of  Salt  Lake  City,  and  in  a  short  time  he  had  a  con- 
siderable following.  He  received  revelations,  and,  under  the 


AND   CRIMES   OF    MOKMONIfcil.  511 

supposed  influence  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  dictated  letters  to  Brigham 
Young  and  Heber  C.  Kimball,  which  he  delivered  in  person. 
Brigham  responded  with  a  short  and  filthy  sentence,  which  com- 
pletely crushed  poor  Morris  for  a  while.  He  had  no  idea  a 
mere  man  could  use  such  dirty  language  to  a  prophet.  But  as 
the  Morrisites  continued  to  increase,  Brigham  sent  John  Taylor 
and  Wilford  Woodruff  to  make  inquiry,  who  solemnly  "cut  off" 
and  disfellowshipped  all  the  adherents  of  Morris.  By  the 
spring  of  1862  the  latter  numbered  five  hundred,  all  collected 
in  a  little  camp  on  the  Weber  called  Kington  Fort. 

The  proceedings  there  were  of  a  startling  character.  Christ 
was  soon  to  come ;  they  had  no  need  to  plant  or  reap  any  more, 
and  with  all  things  in  common  they  proceeded  to  use  the  time 
in  religious  exercises.  Three  English  and  three  Danish  clerks 
were  set  apart  to  write  down  the  revelations  which  flowed  from 
Propliet  Morris  in  streams ;  his  followers  even  now  preserve  a 
large  manuscript  volume  of  them.  But  the  "Lord"  delayed 
to  come;  the  zeal  of  some  of  the  converts  rapidly  cooled,  and  they 
retired  from  the  Weber ;  and  here  began  the  difficulty  that  was 
to  destroy  Brigham's  rival  prophet.  As  the  apostates  with- 
drew, it  became  a  question  how  much  of  their  property  they 
could  reclaim.  It  had  all  been  consecrated;  but  when  the 
dissenters  went  to  take  back  their  share,  and  would  not  make 
any  allowance  for  the  support  that  they  had  derived  from 
the  property  of  others,  a  feud  arose,  and  the  dissenters  threat- 
ened a  little  war.  They  applied  to  the  Mormon  courts,  and 
the  latter  were  pleased  enough  with  the  opportunity  of  dealing 
with  the  Morrisites.  Writs  were  issued,  served  and  repulsed. 
The  dissenters  from  Morris  waited  for  the  chances  of  seizing 
the  movable  property  of  the  Weber  colony,  and  as  wheat  was 
sent  to  the  mill  they  pounced  upon  it,  and  took  the  team  and 
wagon,  too.  The  Morrisites  captured  some  of  these  and  held 


>l-  POLYGAMY;  OR,  THE  MYSTERIES 

them  in  custody;  their  wives  appealed  to  the  civil  authorities, 
and  so  matters  came  to  an  issue.  Mormons  living  near  by 
charge  that  the  Morrisites  also  took  a  large  number  of  cattle 
from  their  neighbors,  and  committed  other  depredations,  which 
the  Morrisites  deny,  saying  that  they  only  retaliated  where  they 
had  been  robbed. 

The  spring  review  of  1862  of  the  Nauvoo  Legion,  the  Terri- 
torial militia,  came  on,  and  the  Morrisites  refused  to  drill,  for 
which  several  of  them  we're  arrested  and  heavily  fined.  They 
declined  to  pay,  and  resisted  executions  on  their  property. 
Complaint  was  at  once  made  to  Chief  Justice  Kinney,  who  is- 
sued writs  for  the  arrest  of  the  leading  Morrisites,  and  Robert 
T.  Burton,  Sheriff  of  Salt  Lake  county,  attempted  to  serve 
them,  but  returned  to  the  city  unsuccessful.  The  Nauvoo 
Legion  was  at  once  ordered  out,  with  several  cannon,  and 
placed  under  Burton's  command.  On  their  way  they  were 
joined  by  reinforcements  from  Ogden,  Kaysville  and  Farming- 
ton,  till  early  on  the  morning  of  June  13th,  1862,  they  arrived 
before  the  Morrisite  camp  with  several  hundred  well-armed 
men  and  five  pieces  of  artillery.  They  captured  the  Morrisites' 
cow-herd,  killing  such  as  they  desired  for  beef,  and  sent  the 
boys  attending  it  into  the  camp,  with  Burton's  proclamation 
calling  for  surrender.  The  camp,  or  fort,  consisted  of  a  few 
houses  made  of  willows,  woven  together  and  plastered,  and 
covered  wagons,  surrounded  by  some  rude  fortifications.  This 
document  was  sent  in  by  the  hand  of  the  cow-herd  : 

"  HEADQUARTERS,  MARSHAL'S  POSSE,  WEBER  RIVER,     ) 

"June  13,  1862.  J 
"  To  Joseph  Morris ,  John  Banks,  Richard  Cook,  John  Parsons 

and  Peter  Klemgard  : 

"  WHEREAS,  You  have  heretofore  disregarded  and  defied  the 
judicial  officers  and  laws  of  the  Territory  of  Utah ;  and  whereas, 


AND   CRIMES   OF    MORMONISM.  513 

certain  writs  have  been  issued  for  you  from  the  Third  Judicial 
District  Court  of  said  Territory,  and  a  sufficient  force  furnished 
by  the  Executive  of  the  same  to  enforce  the  laws,  this  is  there- 
fore to  notify  you  to  peaceably  and  quietly  surrender  yourselves 
and  the  prisoners  in  your  custody  forthwith. 

"An  answer  is  required  in  thirty  minutes  after  the  receipt  of 
this  document ;  if  not,  forcible  measures  will  be  taken  for  your 
arrest.  Should  you  disregard  this  proposition  and  place  your 
lives  in  jeopardy,  you  are  hereby  required  to  remove  your  women 
and  children;  and  all  persons  peaceably  disposed  are  hereby 
notified  to  forthwith  leave  your  encampment,  and  are  informed 
that  they  can  find  protection  with  this  posse. 

"  H.  W.  LAWRENCE,  Territorial  Marshal, 

"  per  R.  T.  BURTON  and  THEODORE  McKEAN,  Deputies." 

Morris  put  on  his  priestly  robe  and  crown,  took  his  divining 
rod  and  proceeded  to  inquire  of  the  Lord  what  was  to  be  done. 
One  who  was  a  lad  then  in  the  camp,  now  a  cool  and  clear- 
headed gentleman,  gives  this  account  of  what  followed : 

"Mr.  Morris  was  seen  to  come  out  from  his  dwelling  with  a 
paper  in  his  hand.  This  paper  proved  to  be  a  written  revelation. 
His  council  were  awaiting  him.  The  revelation  was  read  to 
the  council,  and  a  peculiar  document  it  was.  It  purported  to 
be  from  God,  who  was  represented  as  being  pleased  with  His 
faithful  people  there,  and  as  having  brought  the  posse  against 
them  to  show  His  own  power  in  the  complete  destruction  of 
their  enemies.  It  also  promised,  that  now  the  triumph  of  His 
people  should  come,  their  enemies  should  be  smitten  before 
them,  but  not  one  of  His  faithful  people  should  be  destroyed;  not 
a  hair  of  their  heads  should  be  harmed.  The  council  at  once 
stepped  out  into  the  Bowery,  close  to  which  lived  all  the  leading 
irreu,  and  to  save  time,  singing  was  omitted,  and  the  meeting 
was  opened  briefly  by  prayer.  Mr.  John  Parsons,  in  his  clear, 
sonorous  voice,  then  read  the  revelation.  Mr.  R.  Cook  arose 
33 


514  POLYGAMY. 

to  consult  with  the  people  as  to  which  should  be  obeyed — the 
proclamation,  demanding  the  surrender  of  the  prisoners  held  in 
custody  of  Peter  Klemgard,  and  four  of  the  leading  men  of 
the  church,  or  the  revelation  forbidding  the  surrender  of  these 
men.  Before  the  people  had  a  chance  to  speak,  or  vote,  or  do 
anything  at  all  in  the  matter,  the  booming  sound  of  a  cannon 
was  heard,  and  screams  from  the  third  seat  from  the  stand  in 
the  Bowery,  and  instantly  two  women  were  seen  dead  in  the 
congregation,  and  the  lower  jaw,  hanging  only  by  a  small  strip 
of  skin,  was  shot  off  a  young  girl  of  from  twelve  to  fifteen  years 
of  age.  It  was  the  fearful  and  heart-rending  screams  of  this 
girl  that  stopped  the  meeting.  The  people  arose  in  utter  con- 
fusion. Mr.  Cook,  still  on  his  feet,  suggested  to  all  to  go  at 
once  to  their  homes,  and  each  man  to  take  care  of  his  own 
family  as  best  he  could.  Never  was  revelation  more  immedi- 
ately falsified  in  the  history  of  the  world ;  for,  scarcely  had  the 
promise  of  absolute  safety  been  made,  ere  sudden  destruction 
came." 

The  Morrisites  at  once  took  to  arms  and  the  battle  began. 
The  cannon  and  long-range  rifles  of  the  Brighamites  completely 
raked  the  fort,  to  which  the  Morrisites  could  only  reply  with 
their  ducking-guns.  The  cannon,  too,  were  often  loaded  with 
small  balls,  which  tore  down  the  wicker-work  and  pierced  the 
sandy  hillocks,  wounding  the  women  and  children  who  had 
taken  refuge  behind  them.  Still  these  deluded  people  would 
not  surrender,  and  for  three  days,  fighting  with  the  desperate 
energy  of  religious  fanaticism,  maintained  the  unequal  battle. 
At  intervals,  during  that  time,  they  often  called  on  Morris 
to  intercede  with  the  Lord  for  their  deliverance,  to  which  he 
made  reply :  "  If  the  Lord  will,  we  shall  be  delivered  and  our 
enemies  destroyed  ;  but  let  us  do  our  duty."  On  the  evening 
of  the  third  day,  some  one  raised  a  white  flag ;  when  Morris  saw 


POLYGAMY;    OR,    THP    MYSTERIES  515 

it,  he  said :  "  Your  faith   has  gone  and  the  Lord  has  forsaken 
us.     I  can  now  do  nothing  more." 

They  threw  down  their  arras  and  the  Legion  marched  in, 
Amid  the  wildest  confusion  the  men  and  women  were  separated, 
and  the  former  placed  under  guard.  Few  of  the  women  could 
speak  English,  and  all  expected  destruction.  The  militia  acted 
over  again  the  same  scenes  which  had  been  enacted  by  the  Mis- 
souri militia  when  they  captured  the  Mormons,  destroying, 
plundering,  and  insulting.  The  parties  only  were  changed. 
Four  persons  were  shot  after  the  surrender:  Joseph  Morris, 
John  Banks,  and  two  women.  For  this  dastardly  act  there 
seems  to  have  been  no  excuse.  Burton  himself  merely  said  : 
"They  were  mischief-makers  and  deserved  death  anyhow." 
There  is  a  pretence  by  the  Brighamites  that  Morris  ordered  his 
men  to  renew  the  fight,  but  this  seems  unreasonable.  Several 
of  the  Brighamite  militia  testify  that  Banks  was  only  slightly 
wounded,  and  called  for  water,  when  a  cup  was  handed  him  by 
the  Brighamite  surgeon,  Dr.  Jeter  Clinton ;  that  he  drank  of 
it  and  expired  in  a  few  minutes.  The  Morrisites  are  confident 
he  would  have  recovered,  if  he  had  not  been  poisoned.  The  fol- 
lowing affidavit  will  give  most  clearly  the  Morrisite  version  of 
the  affair : 

"  United  States  of  America,  Territory  of  Utah,  ss. 

"Alexander  Dow,  of  said  Territory,  being  duly  sworn,  says : 

"In  the  spring  of  1861,  I  joined  the  Morrisites,  and  was 

present  when   Joseph  Morris  was  killed.     The  Morrisites  had 

surrendered,  a  white  flag  was  flying,  and  the  arms  were  all 

grounded  and  guarded  by  a  large  number  of  the  posse. 

"  Robert  T.  Burton  and  Judson  L.  Stoddard  rode  in  among 
the  Morrisites.  Burton  was  much  excited,  and  said :  c  Where 
is  the  man?  I  don't  know  him/  Stoddard  replied,  ' That's 
him/  pointing  to  Morris.  Burton  rode  his  horse  upon  Morris, 
and  commanded  him  to  give  himself  up  in  the  name  of  the 


516  AND   CRIMES   OF    MORMON1SM. 

Lord.  Morris  replied:  'No,  never,  never/  Morris  said  he 
wanted  to  speak  to  the  people.  Burton  said,  'Be  d — d  quick 
about  it/  Morris  said,  '  Brethren,  I  have  taught  you  true 
principles ' — he  had  scarcely  got  the  words  out  of  his  mouth, 
when  Burton  fired  his  revolver.  The  ball  passed  in  his  neck 
or  shoulder.  Burton  exclaimed,  '  There's  your  Prophet/  He 
fired  again,  saying, '  What  do  you  think  of  your  Prophet  now? ' 

"  Burton  then  turned  suddenly  and  shot  Banks,  who  was 
standing  five  or  six  paces  distant.  Banks  fell.  Mrs.  Bowman, 
wife  of  James  Bowman,  came  running  up,  crying,  'Oh!  you 
bloody- thirsty  wretch  ! '  Burton  said,  '  No  one  shall  tell  me 
that  and  live/  and  shot  her  dead.  A  Danish  woman  then 
came  running  up  to  Morris,  crying,  and  Burton  shot  her  dead 
also.  Burton  could  have  easily  taken  Morris  and  Banks  pris- 
oners, if  he  had  tried.  I  was  standing  but  a  few  feet  from 
Burton  all  the  time.  And  further  saith  not. 

"ALEXANDER  Dow." 

"Subscribed  and  sworn  to  before  me,  this  18th  day  of  April, 
A.  D.  1863. 

"CHARLES  B.  WATTE, 
"Associate  Justice,  Utah  Territoi*y" 

One  of  the  women  killed  by  the  first  cannon  shot  had  a  baby 
in  her  arms ;  it  was  picked  up  unhurt  by  Mrs.  Bowman,  and  again 
fell  unhurt  when  she  was  killed.  After  these  two  narrow  escapes 
the  baby  still  lives,  a  very  pleasant  and  pretty  young  woman. 
The  dead  bodies  of  Morris,  Banks  and  others  were  thrown  into 
a  wagon,  with  Morris7  robe,  crown  and  rod,  and  succeeded  by 
the  captured  Morrisites,  they  were  guarded  to  the  city.  Young 
and  old  turned  out  to  see  them,  with  mingled  emotions  of  glee 
and  horror,  and  the  bodies  of  Morris  and  Banks,  lying  for 
several  days  in  the  City  Hall,  were  visited  by  great  crowds, 
eager  to  see  the  noted  "schismatic."  The  vast  majority  of 
these  people  regarded  it  simply  as  the  proper  punishment  due 
to  one  who  had  "  set  himself  up  to  teach  heresy  in  Zion  and 
oppose  the  Lord's  anointed." 


POLYGAMY;     OR,    THE    MYSTERIES  517 

Ninety-three  of  the  Morrisites  were  at  once  arraigned  before 
Judge  Kinney,  but  there  was  so  much  popular  excitement,  and 
as  it  was  probable  more  would  die  of  their  wounds,  he  pro- 
ceeded to  place  them  all  under  bonds  of  $1,500  each,  for  their 
appearance  in  April,  1863.  Only  five  of  them  would  sign  the 
bond;  few  of  the  rest  could  speak  English,  and  those  who 
could  protested  against  the  entire  proceedings,  and  announced 
their  determination  "  to  lie  in  jail  till  the  Devil's  thousand  years 
were  out,"  before  they  would  even  by  implication  confess  that 
they  were  treated  legally. 

But  as  the  five  signers  still  owned  considerable  property, 
Judge  Kinney  ruled  that,  as  in  a  sort  of  community,  they  could 
bind  all  the  rest,  as  their  representatives.  When  the  April 
term  (1863)  came  on,  twenty  of  them  were  out  of  the  Territory, 
and  one  was  dead,  but  most  of  the  rest  appeared.  Kinney  said 
that  "  their  absence  made  no  difference ;  he  was  glad  to  see  that 
so  many  had  appeared ; "  and  proceeded  to  enter  a  fine  of  one 
hundred  dollars  each  against  the  present,  dead,  and  absent.  In 
addition,  several  leaders  were  put  on  trial,  and  sentenced  to  the 
penitentiary  from  five  to  fifteen  years  each. 

In  June,  1862,  Kinney  was  the  only  United  States  Judge  in 
Utah,  and  the  compliant  tool  of  the  Brighamites.  But  Gov- 
ernor Harding  and  Judges  Waite  and  Drake  had  arrived  in 
time  to  hear  the  trial  of  the  Morrisites,  and  were  convinced 
that  great  injustice  had  been  done  them,  or  even  if  they  were 
guilty  of  resistance  to  legal  process,  the  law  had  been  strained 
to  inflict  a  cruel  and  unusual  punishment.  It  was  known,  too, 
that  sentence  to  a  long  imprisonment  in  Utah  simply  meant 
DEATH,  if  the  keepers  in  charge  were  so  instructed.  Petitions 
began  to  circulate  for  their  pardon,  signed  by  Gentiles  and 
some  of  the  Mormons  who  relented  at  such  severity.  Quite  an 
excitement  was  created  by  these  attempts,  and  Governor  Hard' 


518  AND   CRIMES    OF    MORMONISM. 

ing  was  warned  by  the  more  violent  Brigharaites  not  to  inter- 
fere with  the  sentence  of  law.  Bishop  Wooley  called  upon  the 
governor  with  an  earnest  remonstrance  against  the  proposed 
pardon,  adding  in  conclusion,  "Governor,  it  stands  you  in 
hand  to  be  careful.  Our  people  are  much  excited  ;  they  feel  it 
would  be  an  outrage  to  pardon  these  men,  and  if  it  is  done  they 
might  proceed  to  violence"  etc.,  etc. 

To  this  truly  Mormon  attempt  at  intimidation  the  governor 
responded  with  his  usual  firmness.  While  the  petition,  with 
names  attached,  was  still  in  his  possession,  not  acted  upon,  the 
governor  was  aroused  from  sleep  one  night,  between  midnight 
and  morning,  by  a  furious  knocking  at  the  door;  it  was  opened 
by  his  son  Attila,  who  acted  as  his  private  secretary,  and  there 
presented  himself  a  stranger  of  rough  aspect,  who  demanded 
peremptorily  to  "see  the  gov'n'r."  .No  representations  of  the 
unseasonableness  of  the  hour  appeared  to  move  him ;  he  in- 
sisted that  his  business  was  too  important  for  delay;  he  had 
ridden  thirty  miles  over  bad  roads,  could  not  arrive  sooner,  and 
must  return  at  once.  With  precautions  against  surprise  they 
admitted  him  to  the  governor's  room,  and  he  at  once  began  : 
"  I  understand  that  you  have  a  petition  for  the  pardon  of  some 
of  the  Morrisites — that  you  won't  act  on  it  because  you  don't 
think  there  are  enough  o'  Mormon  names  on  it — or  Mormons 
that  are  well  known.  An'  you  say  some  Mormons  want  to 
sign  it,  want  'em  pardoned,  but  are  afeard  to  sign.  Gi'  me  that 
paper  an'  I'll  show  you  one  Mormon  that's  not  afeard  to  sign — 
an'  one  that's  purty  well  known,  too.  An'  I've  rid  thirty  miles 
this  night  on  purpose  to  sign  it."  The  petition  was  procured 
and  handed  him,  and,  after  a  rapid  survey  of  the  names,  he 
seized  the  pen,  and  in  broad,  sprawling  Roman  capitals,  extend- 
ing entirely  across  the  sheet,  inscribed  the  well  known-name, 
BILL  HICKMAN. 

35 


POLYGAMY;    OR,    THE    MYSTERIES  519 

It  was  indeed  the  redoubtable  "  Danite  "  captain.  "  There," 
said  he,  holding  it  off  at  arm's  length,  "  there  is  a  Mormon 
name  they  all  know,  an'  they  can  read  it  without  specks.  Talk 
o'  bein'  afeard  o'  Brigham  Young !  I  tell  you  Brigham  Young 
is  a  good  deal  more  afeard  o'  Bill  Hickman  than  Bill  Hickman 
is  o'  Brighara  Young."  Thus  speaking,  he  departed  as  un- 
ceremoniously as  he  came,  and  after. a  short  imprisonment  the 
Morrisites  were  pardoned. 

Meanwhile  the  bonds  of  the  absent  Morrisites  were  declared 
forfeited  by  Judge  Kinney,  and  execution  issued  against  the 
property  of  those  still  in  Utah,  who  had  any,  to  collect  the 
penalty.  Abraham  Taylor,  a  prominent  Morrisite,  had  his 
property  in  the  city,  worth  $3,000,  levied  upon  and  announced 
for  sale.  He  applied  to  Judge  Waite,  who  found,  on  examina- 
tion, that  the  records  of  the  court  showed  no  judgment  against 
the  delinquents,  which  fact  he  represented  to  Judge  Kinney, 
and  applied  for  an  injunction  against  the  officer.  The  applica- 
tion was  refused  by  Judge  Kinney,  who  stated  that,  "  if  there 
was  no  judgment,  he  could  render  one,  as  the  court  had  not  per- 
manently adjourned,  but  only  to  meet  again  on  his  own  motion" 
Taylor's  homestead  was  put  up  at  once  and  sold  to  one  Joseph 
A.  Johnson,  clerk  of  Judge  Kinney's  court,  for  $200,  and  the 
family  literally  forced  into  the  street.  They  remained  a  few 
days  in  the  street  in  front  of  the  house,  then  took  refuge  at 
Camp  Douglas. 

After  General  Connor  arrived  with  two  regiments  of  Cali- 
fornia volunteers,  and  established  Camp  Douglas,  the  Morrisites 
gathered  there;  and  in  May,  1863,  the  general  sent  eighty  fam- 
ilies of  them,  including  over  200  persons,  to  Soda  Springs, 
Idaho,  where  they  established  a  flourishing  settlement.  Abra- 
ham Taylor,  one  of  their  leaders,  remained  at  Camp  Douglas, 
and  in  1866,  by  Major  Charles  H.  Hempstead,  his  attorney, 


520  AND    CRIMES   OF    MOKMON1SM. 

filed  a  bill  in  the  United  States  District,  Court,  Judge  Titus 
presiding,  praying  for  restitution  of  his  property;  and  after  two 
years  of  delay  and  chicanery  by  the  Mormon  lawyers,  at  the 
October  term,  1868,  a  decree  was  made  in  his  favor  by  Judge 
Wilson,  giving  him  possession  of  his  old  homestead,  with  rents 
for  five  years.  The  popular  Mormon  idea  of  justice  may  be 
seen  from  the  fact  that  three-fourths  of  the  people  looked  upon 
this  decree  as  a  gross  outrage  on  a  Utah  citizen  by  a  United 
States  judge,  and  a  severe  act  of  "  persecution." 

Another  prophet  named  Davis  arose  among  them  in  Idaho, 
but  before  his  church  was  well  established  he  had  a  revelation 
that  all  the  rest  were  to  deed  their  property  to  him  as  trustee, 
and  practise  communism,  which  soon  weakened  his  prophetic 
hold.  Not  long  after  they  got  some  sort  of  revelation  that  a 
little  child  among  them  was  to  be  their  future  Christ,  and  kept 
the  child  set  apart  and  dressed  in  white  for  some  time ;  but 
their  organization  broke,  and  many  of  them  removed  to 
Nevada. 

The  most  successful  of  all  the  recusant  and  anti-polygamous 
sects  is  that  under  the  leadership  of  young  Joseph  Smith,  self- 
styled  the  "Reorganized  Church  of  Latter-Day  Saints,"  but 
generally  known  as  "  Josephites."  It  will  be  remembered  that 
Joseph  Smith,  the  Prophet,  obtained  gratis  from  Dr.  Galland 
most  of  the  land  upon  which  Nauvoo  was  built.  After  the 
revelation  for  his  people  to  gather  there,  he  sold  them  the  lots 
at  high  prices,  and  realized  an  immense  fortune,  reported  as 
high  as  one  million  dollars  by  the  best  informed.  With  this  he 
paid  all  his  old  debts  in  Ohio,  lived  in  considerable  style,  sup- 
ported a  dozen  women,  and  still  left  a  considerable  fortune, 
mostly  in  houses  and  lots  in  Nauvoo.  Spiritual  wives  having 
no  legal  rights  in  Illinois,  all  this  property  was  held  by  his 
widow  Emma,  who  refused  to  emigrate  and  remained  with  her 


POLYGAMY;    OR,   THE   MYSTERIES  521 

three  sons,  Joseph,  Jr.,  William  Alexander  and  David  Hyrum, 
in  Nauvoo.  The  oldest  and  youngest  had  been  in  turn  blessed 
and  dedicated  to  the  leadership  by  their  father,  the  latter  before 
his  birth;  and  when  the  Straugites'  organization  had  dissolved, 
Strang's  successor  went  "  hunting  for  Zion  "  in  northern  Iowa, 
where  he  met  the  remnants  of  the  Cutlerites,  and  together  they 
decided  that  "  Young  Joe  was  the  man/7  formed  a  church  and 
made  overtures  to  him  accordingly.  He  responded  that  he  had 
received  no  "  call,"  but  expected  one ;  the  church  rapidly  aug- 
mented from  the  debris  of  the  scattered  sects,  and  finally,  in 
1860,  Young  Smith  was  "  called  as  a  prophet,"  and  the  "  Re- 
organized Church"  was  set  up,  with  headquarters  at  Piano, 
Illinois.  "  Thus,"  says  Apostle  Joseph  F.  Smith,  of  Salt  Lake, 
son  of  Hyrum,  "  thus  the  legs  and  body  got  together  and  called 
for  a  head ;  wobbled  around  a  while  without  one,  and  finally 
made  it  stick." 

The  Josephites  number  twenty  or  thirty  thousand  in  the 
West,  and  have  flourishing  missions  in  Great  Britain  and  Scan- 
dinavia. In  July,  1863,  E.  C.  Briggs  and  Alexander  McCord, 
their  first  missionaries  to  Utah,  reached  Salt  Lake  and  created 
quite  a  sensation ;  Brighara  intimated  to  them  that  their  lives 
were  in  danger,  and  refused  them  the  use  of  any  public  build- 
ing in  the  city.  But  General  Connor  was  then  in  command  at 
Camp  Douglas,  with  a  small  provost  guard  in  the  city,  and 
the  Brighamites  dared  not  try  violence;  Briggs  visited  the 
people  at  their  homes  and  preached  wherever  Gentiles  would 
open  their  houses  to  him,  and  soon  had  many  converts.  Nearly 
two  hundred  of  these  left  the  Territory  in  1864,  under  a  mili- 
tary escort  furnished  by  General  Connor,  and  since  that  time 
many  more  have  left  Utah,  and  their  missions  there  include 
over  five  hundred  members. 

But  all  the  excitement  connected  with  Briggs'  visit  was  as 


•~>--2  AND   CRIMES   OF   MORMONISM. 

nothing  to  that  of  1869,  when  it  was  announced  that  William 
Alexander  and  David  Hyrurn,  "  sons  of  the  Prophet  and 
Martyr,"  had  reached  Salt  Lake  to  advocate  the  reformed  faith. 
They  obtained  Independence  Hall,  then  the  only  public 
building  belonging  to  the  Gentiles,  for  their  meetings ;  and  on 
their  first  service  it  was  crowded  by  the  Mormons,  among  them 
most  of  the  widows  of  Heber  C.  Kimball  and  the  wives  of 
Brigham  Young.  Unable  to  dispute  the  revelation  in  favor 
of  David,  the  Brighamites  maintained  that  he  "  was  now  in 
apostasy,  and  when  he  embraces  the  true  faith  and  comes  in 
the  right  way,  they  will  receive  him."  This  they  confidently 
believed  he  would  yet  do.  The  evident  absurdity  of  dictating 
to  a  foreordained  Prophet,  in  just  what  way  he  should  come, 
did  not  seem  to  affect  their  views.  The  Brighamites  were 
startled  clear  out  of  their  propriety,  abandoned  their  silent  pol- 
icy and  organized  a  series  of  meetings  in  opposition  to  the 
"  Smith  boys."  But  Brigham  was  entirely  too  shrewd  to  take 
the  lead,  and  put  forward  Apostle  Joseph  F.  Smith,  son  of 
"  Hyrum  the  Martyr,"  to  manage  the  opposition  meetings. 
The  writer  attended  most  of  the  meetings,  and  fully  realized 
the  force  of  the  maxim  in  regard  to  gleaning  the  truth  from 
the  disagreement  of  rogues.  The  controversy  was  one  of  that 
peculiar  kind  where  both  parties  "  know  they  are  right,"  and 
can  prove  all  they  wish  by  abundant  testimony  :  the  Brighamites, 
by  living  women  who  were  his  wives,  that  Joseph  Smith  did 
practise  polygamy;  the  Josephites,  by  the  church  books  and 
papers,  that  he  denied  and  repudiated  the  doctrine  to  the  last 
day  of  his  life.  The  Gentile  finds  an  easy  way  out  of  the  di- 
lemma, by  adopting  the  solution  of  the  old  riddle :  "  Why,  the 
little  boy  lied."  The  Josephites  have  not  made  very  serious  in- 
roads into  the  Utah  church ;  there  is  not  folly  or  fanaticism 
enough  in  their  system,  and  when  they  drop  to  cool  reasoning 


POLYGAMY;    OR,   THE   MYSTERIES  523 

they  have  very  little  evidence  to  go  on  and  still  less  material  to 
work  upon. 

The  last  revolt  against  the  power  of  Brigham  was  headed  by 
several  prominent  men  in  Salt  Lake  City,  among  them  William  S. 
Godbe,  Henry  Lawrence,  W.  H.  Shearman  and  E.  W.  Tullidge. 
This  sect  was  long  in  growing,  consisting  of  those  who  sup- 
ported the  Utah  Magazine  as  the  organ  of  independent  thought; 
but  it  was  not  till  1869  that  the  leaders  boldly  announced  the 
policy  of  opposition  to  the  excessive  temporal  government  of 
the  priesthood.  The  First  Presidency  promptly  condemned 
the  Utah  Magazine,  and  Brigham  issued  a  general  order  for- 
bidding all  true  saints  to  patronize  or  read  it.  The  editor  and 
proprietors  were  cited  before  the  High  Council,  and  refusing 
to  recant  and  ask  pardon  were  summarily  "cut  off."  A  few 
who  voted  against  this  excision  were  called  upon  to  explain 
their  votes,  and  failing  to  do  so  were  also  "cut  off."  The 
schism  increased ;  the  new  party  contained  some  wealthy  and 
influential  men,  and  in  a  short  time  they  had  established  a  new 
weekly  paper,  the  Mormon  Tribune,  to  promulgate  their  views. 
They  had  much  the  same  experience  as  other  dissenters;  their 
independence  leavened  the  mass  a  little,  but  their  organization 
had  no  wild  fanaticism  in  it,  and  hence  could  not  capture  the 
common  Mormons.  He  who  does  that  must  out-Brigham 
Brigharn  in  revelations  and  doctrines.  But  the  Godbeites  did 
more  than  any  other  dissenters  had  done;  they  captured  men 
of  wealth,  intelligence,  and  untiring  energy.  Among  them  were 
William  H.  Lawrence,  a  wealthy  merchant,  and  Amasa  Lyman, 
one  of  the  Twelve  Apostles.  From  the  day  this  body  of  active 
men  seceded,  Brigham's  power  was  never  again  to  be  as  it  had 
been.  The  Tribune  soon  passed  into  Gentile  hands  and  is  to- 
day the  lively  and  exceedingly  readable  Daily  Tribune — organ 
of  free  thought  for  Utah.  Walker  Brothers  continued  to  gain 


524  AND   CRIMES   OF    MORMONISM. 

wealth.  Other  Godbeites  in  their  various  walks  of  life  falsified 
the  church  prophecies.  And  as  to  further  developments  and 
the  facts  of  other  possible  secessions,  I  can  only  repeat  my  former 
prophecy:  old  Mormons  will  die,  young  ones  grow  up  infidels; 
polygamic  Mormonism  will  slowly  expire  of  dry  rot,  and  the 
future  historian  will  not  be  able  to  name  the  day  on  which 
Utah  ceased  to  be  distinctively  Mormon  any  more  than  the  day 
Philadelphia  ceased  to  be  distinctively  Quaker. 


AND    CRIMES    OF   MORMONISM.  525 


CHAPTER  XXIII. 

CONTROVERSY     OVER     REED     SMOOT,     UNITED     STATES 
SENATOR     FROM     UTAH. 

Member  of  the  Mormon  Church— Son  of  a  Pioneer— Polygamous  Mar- 
riage—Leading Banker— Protest  from  Citizens  of  Utah— Agitation 
throughout  the  Country— Senate  Investigating  Committee— President 
Joseph  T.  Smith  on  the  Witness  Stand — Mormon  Leaders  Defy  the  Law 
of  the  Land— Smith  Declares  Himself  a  Polygamist— Admits  Having 
Many  Wives— Refuses  to  Obey  the  Law  of  the  Land— Marriages  for 
Eternity— Rights  of  Women— Wife's  Consent  Not  Asked— Witness  Not 
a  "Spotter  or  Informer  " — Revelations  above  Law. 

AMONG  the  new  United  States  Senators  elected  in  1903,  was 
Reed  Smoot  of  Utah.  His  candidacy  attracted  attention  from  the 
entire  country  from  the  fact  that  he  was  a  leading  member  and  an 
apostle  of  the  Morman  church  years  before  Smoot  was  a  candi- 
date and  asked  advice  of  President  McKinley,  who  told  him  that 
a  Mormon  apostle  would  not  be  acceptable  as  a  United  States 
Senator  and  urged  Smoot  to  withdraw.  This  time  although  it 
was  reported  that  he  was  advised  by  President  Roosevelt  that  the 
Senate  would  not  want  to  accept  one  holding  his  position  in  the 
Morman  church,  Mr.  Smoot  decided  to  continue  his  candidacy. 
He  was  unanimously  nominated  in  the  Republican  caucus  of  the 
Utah  legislature,  no  other  name  being  mentioned. 

Mr.  Smoot  was  a  Republican.  He  was  but  little  over  forty 
years  of  age.  His  father  was  one  of  the  pioneers  who  crossed 
the  plains  with  Brigham  Young  and  was  one  of  the  founders  of 
the  town  of  Provo,  Utah,  Mr.  Smoot's  home.  The  young  man 
was  a  banker  and  manufacturer,  and  was  interested  in  mining  and 
other  enterprises.  He  was  considered  one  of  the  richest  men  in 
Utah. 

The  question  of  Polygamy  in  Utah  was  brought  to  the  front 
again  by  Mr.  Smoot's  election.  President  Smith  of  the  Mormon 
church,  in  an  interview,  declared  that  no  polygamous  marriages 


526  POLYGAMY;  OR,  THE  MYSTERIES 

were  sanctioned  by  the  church,  and  that  the  only  polygamous 
marriages  were  those  remaining  from  the  large  number  which 
were  in  existence  at  the  time  the  law  prohibiting  them  went  into 
effect.  President  Smith  denned  the  position  of  Mr  Smoot  in 
the  church,  his  position  as  an  apostle  having  been  compared  to 
that  of  an  archbishop  or  bishop  in  other  churches.  u  The  two 
positions  are  not  parallel,''  Mr.  Smith  said:  "An  apostle  of 
seventy  or  elder  or  bishop  in  the  Church  of  Jesus  Christ  of  Latter 
Day  Saints  is  usually  engaged  in  some  secular  vocation  or  labor- 
ing in  some  capacity  for  his  daily  bread.  He  is  ordained  to  the 
office  he  holds  in  the  priesthood  so  that  he  may  act  in  that  calling 
when  required.  He  gives  his  services  gratuitously  to  the  church. 
There  are  instances  of  course  when  a  man's  whole  time  is  taken 
up  with  some  church  duty,  that  he  receives  remuneration  therefor, 
but  as  a  rule  men  holding  positions  iji  the  priesthood  are  engaged 
in  secular  callings  and  are  business  men. 

"  Reed  Smoot  is  a  banker,  the  manager  of  the  largest  manu- 
facturing institution  in  Utah  and  is  interested  in  mining  and  other 
operations.  He  is  recognized  as  a  capable  and  enterprising 
citizen,  and  his  position  in  the  church  need  not  interfere  in  any 
way  with  his  services  to  the  state.  It  is  not  true  that  he  has  been 
put  forward  by  the  church  as  a  candidate  for  public  office,  but  he 
has  the  same  right  that  any  other  American  citizen  enjoys  to 
accept  any  office  to  which  his  fellow-citizens  may  elect  him. 
Mormon  church  officials  have  served  in  Congress  for  years  and 
no  objection  has  been  offered  on  that  account." 

On  February  10th,  a  protest  was  received  by  the  Senate  Com- 
mittee on  privileges  and  elections  from  representative  citizens  of 
Utah,  protesting  against  the  seating  of  Reed  Smoot  as  a  Senator 
from  Utah  on  the  ground  that  he  was  an  apostle  of  the  Mormon 
church  and  as  such  he  should  not  represent  the  people  of  Utah 
in  the  Senate. 

This  was  the  beginning  of  an  agitation  that  stirred  our 
whole  country.  The  most  influential  women  circulated  petitions 
against  the  seating  of  Smoot  on  the  ground  that  he  was  a  Mor- 
mon, and  was  bound  by  the  rules  and  doctrines  of  his  church. 
And  as  the  laws  of  the  State  of  Utah  prohibited  polygamy,  it 


AND    CRIMES    OF    MORMONISM.  527 

was  contended  that  no  one  should  hold  a  seat  in  the  United  States 
Senate  who  was  an  official  in  the  Mormon  sect ;  and  further,  that 
as  Smoot's  oath  bound  him  to  obey  the  teachings  and  require- 
ments of  Mormonism,  he  could  not  render  loyal  obedience  to  the 
United  States  Government  when  the  Federal  laws  came  into 
Conflict  with  his  religious  oath. 

On  these  grounds  it  was  considered  imperative  to  examine  Mr. 
Smoot's  case  and  satisfy  the  law  and  the  popular  demand  for  an 
investigation,  which  began  March  3d;  1904. 

The  family  relations  of  President  Joseph  F.  Smith,  of  the 
Mormon  church,  brought  out  before  the  Senate  Committee,  and 
Smith's  admission  that  Senator  Smoot  had  secured  permission 
from  the  twelve  apostles,  the  church's  governing  body,  before  he 
became  a  senatorial  candidate,  were  thought  to  have  a  direct 
bearing  upon  Smoot's  eligibility  to  a  seat  in  the  Senate. 

Mr.  Smith  said  that  although  Smoot  might  have  become  a 
Senator  without  apostolic  permission,  he  would  have  been  at  odds 
with  that  body  ;  then  the  Thatcher  case  was  cited  to  show  that 
when  an  apostle  crosses  his  brother  apostles  he  will  ke  turned  out 
of  the  Apostolic  Board. 

As  for  securing  evidence  that  the  church  is  unto  itself  supreme, 
even  above  the  Government,  Federal  and  State ;  that  the  Mormon 
dignitaries  openly  defy  the  law  of  the  land,  the  opponents  of 
Smooth  scored  a  victory. 

President  Smith  told  the  committee  that  he  had  five  wives 
living,  that  he  maintained  all  the  relations  of  matrimony  with 
them,  that  each  of  them  had  borne  him  children  since  the  manifesto 
of  1890,  when  the  church  ostensibly  relinquished  polygamy.  In 
all  eleven  children  had  been  born  to  him  by  his  plural  wives  since 
the  manifesto. 

President  Smith  admitted  that  he  knew  that  he  was  violating 
the  law,  and  that  he  did  it  wilfully  as  the  alternative  of  aban- 
doning family  relations  that  had  been  entered  into  before  the 
manifesto.  President  Smith  was  almost  defiant  in  his  attitude. 
He  said  he  maintained  his  polygamous  relations  in  the  sight  of 
all  men  and  was  ready  at  any  time  to  suffer  the  penalty  of  the 
law  rather  than  abandon  his  course.  President  Smith  testified 


528  POLYGAMY;  OR,  THE  MYSTERIES 

that  other  dignitaries  of  the  church  were  also  living  in 
polygamy. 

When  the  Committee  met,  Chairman  Burrows  ruled  that  testi- 
mony bearing  upon  plural  marriages  of  any  members  of  the 
twelve  apostles,  of  which  Mr.  Smoot  was  one,  is  competent  so  far 
as  it  relates  to  polygamous  cohabitation  since  September  26,  1890, 
the  date  of  President  Woodruff's  manifesto,  withdrawing  the 
order  of  the  church  commanding  plural  marriages. 

Mr.  Smith,  regarding  his  own  position  under  the  rules  cover- 
ing polygamy,  acknowledged  that  he  had  violated  them  continu- 
ously since  the  manifesto  of  1890,  and  was  ready  now  and  always 
had  been  ready  to  face  the  laws  of  the  land.  Mr.  Taylor,  coun- 
sel for  the  prosecution,  asked : 

"  Is  cohabitation  with  a  plural  wife  contrary  to  the  laws  of  the 
church?" 

"  In  regard  to  the  status  of  polygamy  at  the  time  of  the  mani- 
festo, I  want  to  say  that  after  the  hearing  before  the  master  of 
chancery,  I  understood  that  we  should  abstain  from  relations  with 
our  plural  families,  and  that  rule  was  observed  up  to  the  time  the 
Enabling  Act  went  into  effect,  admitting  Utah  as  a  State.  Under 
that  act  the  only  prohibition  was  that  plural  marriages  should 
cease.  Nothing  was  said  about  cohabitation  with  our  plural  wives." 

"  With  the  wives  you  had  married  previous  to  the  manifesto, 
you  mean  ?''  interrupted  Mr.  Hoar. 

"  That  is  what  I  meant,"  said  Mr.  Smith.  "  I  understood  that 
plural  marriages  were  to  cease,  and  ever  since  the  manifesto  until 
the  present  time  there  never  has  been  a  plural  marriage  in  the 
church  performed  in  accordance  with  its  teachings  or  with  the 
connivance  of  the  church,  and  I  know  whereof  I  speak." 

Then  in  answer  to  the  question  whether  polygamous  cohabita- 
tion was  regarded  by  the  church  as  contrary  to  law,  he  answered, 
" It  is.''  Continuing,  he  said : 

"  This  wras  the  case  and  is  the  case  now.  But  I  was  placed  in 
this  position.  I  had  a  family — a  plural  family  if  you  please.  I 
married  my  first  wife  more  than  thirty-eight  years  ago,  and  my 
last  wife  more  than  twenty  years  ago.  By  these  wives  I  have 
had  children,  and  I  have  preferred  to  take  my  own  chances  with 


AND    CRIMES    OF    MORMONISM.  529 

the  law  and  suffer  any  consequences  the  law  might  visit  upon  me 
rather  than  to  abandon  these  children  and  their  mothers." 

Mr.  Smith  was  forceful  in  his  declaration  that  he  had  not  in 
any  manner  hidden  his  actions,  but  that  he  was  careful  not  to 
make  a  show  of  his  polygamy. 

"  I  have  continued  to  cohabit  with  them  since  the  manifesto  of 
1890,  and  they  have  borne  me  children  since  that  date.  I  was 
fully  aware  of  what  I  was  doing.  I  knew  it  was  amenable  to  the 
law ;  but,  as  I  say,  I  preferred  to  face  that  situation  rather  than  to 
desert  them.  I  have  not  cohabited  with  these  wives  openly  or 
flaunted  the  fact,  but  I  have  acknowledged  these  wives  and  chil- 
dren as  my  family.  The  people  of  Utah  have  regarded  the  situ- 
ation as  an  existing  fact.  These  people  as  a  rule  are  broad- 
minded  and  liberal  in  their  views,  and  have  condoned  the  offence 
— if  offence  it  is — rather  than  interfere  with  my  situation  as  they 
found  it.  It  has  been  known  what  I  have  been  doing.  I  have 
not  been  interfered  with  nor  disturbed  in  any  way.  If  I  had 
been,  I  was  there  to  answer  the  charges.  I  was  willing  to  face 
them  and  submit  to  the  penalty,  whatever  it  might  be." 

Mr.  Smith  went  into  a  discussion  of  the  law  regarding  polyga- 
mous cohabitation  and  plural  marriages. 

"  You  must  draw  a  distinction  between  unlawful  cohabitation 
and  plural  marriages.  The  State  law  in  regard  to  the  latter  has 
been  complied  with.  No  marriages  have  been  performed  with 
the  sanction,  approval,  consent,  knowledge  or  connivance  of  the 
church  or  its  officials.  But  the  other  law  is  the  one  I  have  pre- 
sumed to  disregard,  and  which,  as  I  have  said,  I  am  ready  to 
face  rather  than  disgrace  myself  or  degrade  my  family  by  turn- 
ing them  off.'' 

"  You  say  there  is  a  State  law  forbidding  polygamous  cohabi- 
tation and  you  have  been  continuing  to  violate  it  in  utter  disre- 
gard of  the  consequences,  was  asked  ?  " 

"I  think  I  have.'' 

"  You  have  caused  your  plural  wives  to  bear  you  new  children 
in  violation  of  the  law  you  knew  to  exist  ?  " 

"  That  is  correct." 

"  Why  have  you  done  so  ?  ' ' 


530  POLYGAMY,    OR,   THE   MYSTERIES 

"  For  the  same  reason  I  have  told  you.  I  preferred  to  face 
the  law.  I  could  not  disgrace  myself,  I  could  not  degrade  my 
family.  ' 

"  Do  you  consider  it  an  abandonment  of  your  family  not  to 
maintain  marriage  relations  ?  " 

Mr.  Smith  faced  Mr.  Taylor  and  in  a  low  but  penetrating 
voice  said:  "I  don't  like  to  be  impertinent,  but  I  should  like 
you  to  ask  any  woman  who  is  a  wife. ' ' 

At  that  point  Mr.  Foraker  and  Mr.  Beveridge  objected,  and 
in  discussing  the  questions  both  expressed  the  opinion  that  the 
witness  had  stated  fully  that  he  had  violated  the  laws  and  that 
he  had  been  frank  in  regard  to  his  reasons  and  finally  that  the 
committee  was  advised  on  that  subject.  Mr.  Foraker  said  that 
after  such  a  statement  as  had  been  made  by  Mr.  Smith  it  was 
unnecessary  to  ask  the  witness  concerning  his  opinions  on  the 
subject  of  good  morals. 

Mr.  Hoar  moved  that  such  questions  be  not  allowed  at  this 
time,  but  if  at  a  future  time  it  was  found  that  Mr.  Smith's  state- 
ment was  not  full  and  complete  the  committee  might  question 
him. 

Mr.  Dubois  then  asked  Mr.  Smith  if  it  was  not  understood  by 
those  in  authority  that  it  was  the  duty  of  the  polygamist  to  con- 
tinue to  provide  for  and  support  his  plural  family  after  the 
manifesto  of  1890. 

Mr.  Smith  answered  that  it  was  "generally  so  understood." 

Mr.  Burrows  asked  Mr.  Smith  if  he  had  married  any  wives 
between  the  first  and  the  last  that  he  had  mentioned  during  his 
statement  to  the  committee. 

"  I  have." 

"How  many?" 

"Three.'' 

"  Then  you  have  five  wives  now." 

"  That  is  correct." 

"  How  many  children  have  you  had  since  the  manifesto  of 
1890." 

"  Eleven  since  1890.  Each  of  my  five  wives  has  borne  me 
children/' 


AND    CRIMES    OF    MORMONISM.  531 

< 'Since  that  time?'' 

"  Since  that  time.  I  rather  think  that  one  of  them  has  had 
three  children,  I  could  tell  you  a  little  later." 

In  reply  to  a  question  by  Senator  Smoot,  Mr.  Smith  said : — 

i;  Each  of  my  families  has  a  home  of  its  own,  in  Salt  Lake 
City,  and  comparatively  near  to  each  other.  Since  the  manifesto 
my  custom  has  been  to  live  with  my  first  wife  at  her  home,  but  I 
have  visited  my  other  families.  My  attitude  towards  my  wives 
was  of  general  knowledge." 

Senator  Overman :  "  Did  Senator  Smoot  ever  advise  you  to 
persist  in  your  polygamous  cohabitation  V  ' ' 

Mr.  Smith  :  "I  think  not.  I  have  never  so  far  as  I  remember, 
discussed  my  private  affairs  with  him.'' 

"  Are  the  apostles  your  advisers  ?  " 

"  I  receive  advice  from  all  good  men,  but  no  more  from  them 
than  other  elders  of  the  church." 

"  Did  they  ever  advise  you  to  desist  from  the  practice  ?  " 

"  Not  that  I  know  of." 

"  Has  Mr.  Smoot  visited  you  at  your  residences  ?  " 

u  He  has  been  to  my  first  wife's  house,  where  I  make  what 
may  be  called  my  official  residence." 

When  asked  whether  Charles  Teasdale,  John  W.  Taylor, 
Heber  J.  Grant,  John  Henry  Snnth,  F.  M.  Lyman  and  others 
of  the  twelve  apostles  are  polygamists,  Smith  said  he  believed 
they  were  and  that  they  were  so  reputed. 

In  response  to  a  question  by  Senator  Hoar,  Mr.  Smith  said  : 
"  Mormon  missionaries  are  instructed  not  to  hold  up  plural  mar- 
riages as  an  inducement  in  securing  converts." 

Mr.  Smith  said  u  the  book  called  '  Ready  References,'  is  used 
by  missionaries.''  This  book,  he  admitted,  contains  a  chapter  on 
polygamy  declaring  that  practice  to  be  divine.  The  marginal 
note  on  the  chapter  on  polygamy  waf  given  as  "  polygamy  right, 
in  the  sight  of  God." 

Mr.  Smith  was  questioned  in  regarri  to  a  wife  named  Levira, 
who  was  divorced  from  him  and  died  many  years  before  1890. 
Mr.  Smith  protested  that  the  questions  were  very  embarrassing 
and  trying  to  him. 


532  POLYGAMY;  OR,  THE  MYSTERIES 

Mr.  Taylor  asked  if  Mr.  Smith  had  not  claimed  in  1896  or 
1897,  that  his  wife  Levira  was  not  divorced,  and  whether  he  did 
not  claim  a  part  of  her  estate  for  that  reason.  Mr.  Smith 
denied  having  claimed  the  estate. 

Inquiry  having  been  made  by  several  members  of  the  com- 
mittee, as  to  what  Mr.  Taylor  expected  to  prove  by  certain  ques- 
tioning, the  latter  said  : 

"  I  expect  to  prove  that  Mr.  Smoot  could  not  by  any  possi- 
bility put  himself  up  against  his  associates  in  his  actions." 

"  Not  even  in  his  vote  [ as  a  United  States  Senator?''  asked 
Mr.  Beveridge. 

u  No,  not  even  in  his  vote  as  a  Senator,''  responded  Mr. 
Taylor. 

Mr.  Taylor :  "  Mr.  Smith  where  would  your  property  go  to 
in  case  of  death  ?  " 

"  My  property  would  go  to  my  heirs  and  the  property  which 
I  hold  in  trust  for  the  church  would  go  to  my  successor.'' 

In  answer  to  questions  concerning  revelations  Mr.  Smith 
reiterated  that  such  revelations  were  accepted  or  rejected  at  will; 
that  there  is  no  restraint  upon  any  member  except  his  or  her 
voluntary  wish.  He  said  he  did  not  always  obey  the  revelations 
from  God.  "  One  can  obey  or  disobey  with  impunity,"  he 
added. 

"Then  that  is  the  kind  of  a  God  you  believe  in  ?''  said  Mr. 
Taylor. 

"  Yes,  that  is  the  kind  of  a  God  I  believe  in,"  declared  Mr. 
Smith,  with  emphasis. 

A  rule  of  the  church  was  quoted  in  regard  to  the  release  from 
duties  of  certain  members  of  the  apostles  or  others  in  high  posi- 
tions in  order  to  perform  other  duties,  and  Mr.  Taylor  asked : 

6 1  Was  it  necessary  for  Mr.  Smoot  to  get  consent  to  run  for 
Senator  ?" 

"  He  had  to  get  the  consent  of  his  associate  apostles  and  the 
first  presidency,  in  order  to  go  before  the  Legislature.  He 
obtained  that  consent.'' 

Mr.  Taylor  devoted  considerable  attention  to  a  discussion  of 
the  Mormon  marriage  ceremonies.  It  was  brought  out  that  all 


AND    CRIMES    OF    MORMONISM.  533 

of  the  high  officials  of  the  church  and  all  of  the  elders  are 
authorized  to  marry,  and  that  such  marriages  are  regarded  in 
accordance  with  the  State  laws  on  that  question.  The  celestial 
marriage,  or  the  marriage  for  eternity,  Mr.  Smith  said,  was  one  of 
the  things  the  Mormon  church  believed  in,  but  the  practice  had 
been  in  discussion  for  twenty  years  or  more.  This  marriage  was 
described  as  one  to  carry  two  persons  through  heaven  in  happiness 
and  that  often  was  performed  when  one  party  was  dead,  and 
sometimes  when  both  parties  were  dead.  In  that  event,  the 
relatives  of  the  contracting  parties  represented  them.  When 
questioned  closely,  Mr.  Smith  admitted  that  a  man  and  woman, 
both  living,  were  sometimes  married  for  "  eternity. J> 

The  course  of  the  testimony  and  the  questions  of  Senators  in 
the  Mormon  investigation  before  the  Senate  Committee  showed 
that  the  issue  was  being  brought  down  to  the  question  whether  the 
organization  of  the  Mormon  Church,  of  which  Senator  Smoot 
was  an  apostle,  constituted  a  conspiracy  for  violation  of  law  to 
which  Senator  Smoot  was  of  necessity  a  party. 

It  was  shown  that  the  church  had  not  abandoned  polygamy  as 
an  article  of  its  creed,  but  was  suspended  recommending  its  prac- 
tice. This  was  brought  out  in  the  testimony  that  not  only 
President  Smith  but  other  apostles  practice  polygamy  in  fact  and 
believe  in  it  in  theory. 

President  Smith  stated  distinctly  that  if  the  principle  of  plural 
marriages  should  be  publicly  attacked,  the  church  would  defend 
it.  He  also  admitted  that  as  late  as  1903  he  had  made  a  speech 
at  a  reunion  of  the  church  in  which  he  contended  that  the  doctrine 
of  plural  marriages  was  a  revelation  from  God  and  to  reject  that 
would  be  equivalent  to  rejection  of  the  Deity  himself.  He  admitted 
that  Senator  Smoot  was  present  when  that  speech  was  delivered. 

President  Smith  was  called  to  the  stand  by  Senator  Hoar  at 
the  opening  of  the  day's  proceedings.  Senator  Hoar  desired 
information  on  the  subject  of  the  rights  of  women  in  the  church 
and  whether  they  hold  any  priestly  authority. 

Mr.  Smith  said  the  women  are  regarded  as  the  equals  of 
men  in  all  matters  of  voting,  but  that  in  holding  "priestly 
authority  ' '  women  are  not  regarded  on  the  same  plane. 


534  POLYGAMY;  OR,  THE  MYSTERIES 

Reading  from  the  Deseret  News,  of  June  23,  1903,  regarding 
a  speech  by  Mr.  Smith  at  the  Weber  State  reunion,  Mr.  Taylor 
asked  Mr.  Smith  if  he  was  correctly  reported  in  saying  that  the 
doctrine  of  plural  marriages  was  a  revelation  by  God  to  Joseph 
Smith,  and  to  reject  that  would  be  equivalent  to  a  rejection  of 
God  himself. 

Mr.  Smith  said  he  believed  he  was  correctly  reported,  and 
when  a  list  of  names  of  those  present,  including  Senator  Smoot, 
was  read,  Mr.  Smith  said  the  list  was  correct.  He  declared  that 
he  would  not  have  had  the  article  published  if  he  had  been  con- 
sulted. Pressed  for  a  reason  he  said  he  was  under  injunction 
not  to  teach  the  rightfulness  of  polygamy  and  that  he  had 
refrained  from  so  doing  in  public. 

Mr.  Smith  said  his  statement  was  merely  to  set  right  a  matter 
of  history  in  regard  to  the  President  who  was  inaugurated  under 
the  system  of  plural  marriages.  Some  people  think  that  Brig- 
ham  Young  was  the  first,  he  said,  and  I  knew  it  was  Joseph 
Smith,  and  I  brought  forward  my  aunt,  Bethsheba  W.  Smith, 
who  had  received  the  endowment  from  Joseph  Smith  at  Nauvoo, 
Illinois.  She  was  the  last  living  witness  and  I  took  that  occa- 
sion to  refute  a  false  statement.  It  was  a  matter  of  history  and 
not  a  teaching. 

Mr.  Smith  said  he  had  avoided  teaching  polygamy,  but  that 
the  manifesto  had  not  in  any  manner  changed  his  convictions  on 
the  question  of  plural  marriages.  Chairman  Burrows  asked : 

"  You  have  said  to-day  that  you  were  obeying  the  laws  in  not 
teaching  polygamy  since  the  manifesto.  Do  you  think  you  were 
obeying  the  law  in  having  eleven  children  from  different  mothers 
since  that  time  ?  ' ' 

"  I  obey  the  law  so  far  as  the  teaching  is  concerned.  I  have 
not  said  that  I  have  obeyed  the  law  in  my  practice.  As  I  have 
said  before,  I  preferred  to  take  my  chances  with  the  law  rather 
than  to  abandon  my  plural  family.  Polygamy  has  not  been 
taught  in  the  church,  by  any  of  the  officials.  The  church  has 
obeyed  the  laws  even  if  I  have  not.'' 

Reference  had  been  made  many  times  to  the  revelation  com- 
manding plural  marriages,  and  Senator  Foraker  said  that,  although 


AND   CRIMES  OF   MORMONISM.  535 

the  ground  may  have  been  covered  before,  he  would  like  to  go  in 
the  record  an  answer  to  this  question  : 

"  When,  where  and  how  was  the  injunction  in  favor  of  poly- 
gamy received  by  the  church  ?  What  I  want  to  know  is  whether 
the  practice  is  arbitrary  or  merely  permissive." 

Mr.  Smith  explained  that  the  revelation  was  made  to  Joseph 
Smith,  Jr.,  at  Nauvoo  in  1843,  but  was  not  then  publicly  pro- 
claimed. The  doctrine  had  been  taught  by  Joseph  Smith  to 
Brigham  Young  and  his  associates  and  preserved  by  Young.  It 
was  taken  to  the  Salt  Lake  Valley  in  1847,  and  in  1852  was 
proclaimed  by  Young  and  accepted  as  a  revelation. 

Senator  Foraker  said :  "  What  I  want  to  know  is  whether  the 
members  of  the  church  were  compelled  to  practice  the  polygamous 
marriages." 

Mr.  Smith  called  for  a  copy  of  the  book  of  doctrine  and  cov- 
enants and  read  a  part  of  the  revelation.  He  said: 

"  This  has  been  accepted  in  the  nature  of  permission  to  take 
plural  wives  and  is  not  mandatory  upon  the  members  of  the 
church.  Other  passages  set  forth  that  if  one  wanted  to  espouse 
a  second  virgin  he  could  do  so  by  obtaining  the  consent  of  the 
first,  but  that  if  -the  consent  of  the  first  was  withheld  he  was  at 
liberty  to  proceed  without  it.  It  is  set  forth  also  that  where  the 
first  refuses  consent  to  share  her  husband  with  another  woman 
she  would  be  "  destroyed." 

Senator  Pettus  asked  the  meaning  of  the  word  "  destroyed  "  in 
that  sense. 

Mr.  Smith  answered  that  she  would  be  destroyed  by  the  Lord, 
but  that  he  was  not  informed  "just  how  the  Lord  would  go 
about  it." 

"  Then  it  does  not  mean  that  the  husband  could  destroy  her  ?  '' 
Senator  Pettus  asked. 

"  No,  never.'' 

"  I  take  it,  then,  that  the  question  of  getting  a  wife's  consent 
to  marry  again  might  just  as  well  be  eliminated  entirely/'  said 
Senator  Beveridge. 

"  Just  as  well,"  answered  the  witness. 

Senator  Overmann  asked  Mr.  Smith  if  he  knew  any  one  of  the 


530  POLYGAMY;  OR,  THE  MYSTERIES 

six  polygamist  apostles  had  disobeyed  the  law  in  regard  to  polyg- 
amous cohabitation  since  the  manifesto  of  1890.  The  answer  was : 

"  I  do  not  know.  I  only  know  that  they  were  in  the  same 
status  of  polygamy  at  the  time  of  the  manifesto  as  I  was  myself. 
I  do  not  pry  into  their  family  affairs.  I  am  happy  to  say  that  I 
mi  not  a  '  spotter  '  or  an  *  informer.'  I  am  not  a  paid  spy." 

k*  Yet  you  might  know  without  being  a  paid  spy.'' 

u  I  know  nothing  about  it.  As  I  have  said  before,  I  am  not  a 
spotter  nor  informer.'' 

The  words  "  spotter  ''  and  "  informer  ''  were  hissed  rather  than 
spoken.  Senator  Overmann  retorted : 

"  Neither  am  I  a  paid  spotter  or  informer.  Yet  I  know  that  in 
my  town  people  have  children.  I  think  you  might  answer  that 
question  without  using  the  words  ;  spotter '  and  '  informer  '  in 
that  manner.'' 

"  I  beg  the  Senator's  pardon. ' ' 

Senator  Dubois  asked  Mr.  Smith  how  many  of  his  predecessors 
had  been  monogamists,  and  Mr.  Smith  said  he  believed  that  all  of 
them  had  had  plural  wives. 

"And  I  believe  you  said  that  your  successor  to  the  throne  has 
more  than  one  wife  ?" 

"  I  wish  to  correct  the  Senator.  There  is  no  successor  to  the 
throne." 

Senator  Dubois  said  that  he  merely  wanted  to  ascertain  that 
the  successor  had  been  determined  upon,  and  that  he  is  now  a 
polygamist.  The  witness  admitted  that  was  the  case. 

In  quoting  from  the  New  Testament,  Senator  Hoar  said  it  is 
gtated  that  there  is  a  command  that  a  "  bishop  shall  be  sober,  and 
have  one  wife — '' 

Mr.  Smith  interrupted: 

"At  least  one  wife." 

"  Well,  we  don't  construe  it  that  way  in  our  church.  What  I 
wanted  to  get  at  is  this :  Now  I  know  several  bishops  in  our 
church  who  are  bachelors.  Do  you  regard  it  a  divine  command 
that  the  bishops  shall  have  one  wife  or  more  ?  What  I  want  to 
know  is  how  you  construe  that  command.'' 

"  I  believe  the  practice  of  polygamy  was  general  among  the 


AND    CRIMES    OP    MORMONISM.  537 

Jews  at  the  time  the  Scriptures  were  written.  I  believe  that  it 
was  commanded  that  a  bishop  should  be  a  married  man,  because 
his  duties  made  it  necessary  that  he  should  be  an  experienced 
man." 

Here  the  chairman  had  to  rap  loudly  to  restore  order  in  the 
committee-room. 

Senator  McComas  took  the  witness  in  hand  to  bring  out  whether 
as  the  head  of  the  Mormon  Church,  Mr  Smith  had  ever  rebuked 
the  apostles  of  the  church  for  teaching  polygamy  since  the  mani- 
festo of  1890,  and  Mr.  Smith  declared  : 

"  No  member  of  the  church  has  ever  taught  polygamy  since 
that  time." 

"  What  would  you  do  if  the  principle  of  plural  marriages  was 
publicly  attacked  ?  " 

"  We  would  defend  it.'' 

In  response  to  a  question  by  Senator  Hoar,  Mr.  Taylor  said: 

"  I  expect  to  show  that  plural  marriages  have  been  consum- 
mated among  the  officers  of  the  church,  and  that  Senator  Smoot? 
as  a  member  of  that  heirarchy,  must  have  had  knowledge  of  the 
fact.'' 

Many  quotations  from  the  book  called  Articles  of  Faith  were 
included  in  the  record,  among  them  one  which  declared  that  one 
chosen  of  God  has  the  same  authority  to  teach  His  word  and 
make  commands  as  powerful  as  though  they  came  from  the 
Saviour  himself.  This  was  read  to  sustain  revelations  to  Joseph 
Smith  and  his  successors. 

Mr.  Smith  was  then  taken  in  hand  by  the  defense  and  ques- 
tioned by  Mr.  Worthington,  who  called  attention  to  "an  apparent 
inconsistency ''  in  regard  to  the  authority  of  more  than  one 
person  to  receive  revelations. 

Mr.  Smith  said  that  only  the  president  could  receive  revela- 
tions "  for  the  entire  church,''  though  every  member  of  the  church 
could  receive  revelations  for  his  personal  guidance.  The  last 
revelation  received,  according  to  Mr.  Smith,  was  in  1882,  and 
came  to  President  John  Taylor,  calling  two  men  to  the  apostolate. 
Mr.  Worthington  then  asked : 

u  That  is  the  only  one  in  twenty-two  years,  then  ?  " 


538  POLYGAMY;  OR,  THE  MYSTERIES 

"  The  only  one  except  the  manifesto.'' 

44  Why  is  it  that  the  manifesto  does  not  appear  in  the  doctrine 
and  covenant  with  other  revelations  ?  '* 

"  It  is  an  oversight,  I  should  judge. " 

Senator  Hoar  asked  a  number  of  questions  to  determine  the 
relative  weight  of  revelations  and  the  law  of  the  land  when  the 
two  come  into  conflict,  and  asked  particularly  in  regard  to  the 
old  revelations. 

Mr.  Smith  said  that  with  the  older  members  it  was  the  effort 
to  uphold  the  laws,  "  but  with  we  younger  ones,  well — we  were  a 
little  hard  to  control/' 

Bringing  the  question  up  to  later  periods  Senator  Hoar 
wanted  to  know  what  Mr.  Smith  would  do  if  the  revelation  con- 
flicted with  the  law.  "  Which  would  you  obey  ?  ''  he  asked. 

4 'With  me,  perhaps,  the  revelations  would  be  uppermost," 
said  Mr.  Smith. 

u  Can  you  say  4  perhaps '  to  such  a  question?"  interrupted 
Mr.  Hoar,  severely.  Continuing,  he  asked,  "  Suppose  you 
received  a  revelation  commanding  your  people  to  do  something 
which  would  conflict  with  the  law  of  the  land.  Which  would 
they  have  to  obey  ?  '' 

"Whichever  they  pleased,''  was  the  reply.  "There  is  no 
compulsion." 

"  Which  would  you  do  ?  "  asked  Senator  Burrows. 

"  I  would  strive  with  all  my  might  to  obey  the  laws  of  the 
land,"  said  Mr.  Smith,  and  he  added :  "  But  I  should  not  like  to 
be  put  into  a  position  where  I  would  be  compelled  to  abandon 
my  children.  I  could  not  do  that.  ' 


AND    CRIMES    OF    MORMONISM.  539 


CHAPTER  XXIV. 

STARTLING    DISCLOSURES    BY   LEADING    MORMONS. 

President  Smith  Confesses  Himself   Guilty— An   Interesting   Patriarch- 
Personal  Appearance A  Martyr  in  Mormon  Eyes— Sympathy  Turns  to 

Disgust— Value  of  Revelation— Consented  to  Smoot's  Election— Forty-two 
Children  and  Proud  of  All — Traces  Polygamy  Back  to  Abraham — Plural 
Wife  When  Seventeen  Years  Old— Maltreated  by  Mormon  Husband  and 
Left  Him— Apostle  Merrill— Polygamous  Marriage— More  Than  One 
Hundred  Relatives— Apostle  Lyman  on  the  Stand— Surprising  Confessions 
—Contradicts  Himself— Made  to  Appear  Ridiculous  by  Senator  Hoar- 
Peoples'  Voice  Above  God's. 

"  GUILTY''  was  the  answer  of  President  Joseph  F.  Smith,  of 
the  Mormon  Church,  to  every  charge  that  he  and  the  church 
hierarchy  were  violating  the  law,  except  the  one  that  plural 
marriages  were  now  celebrated.  And  it  is  to  be  remembered  in 
this  connection  that  the  missionaries  declared  that  these  marriages 
were  still  being  celebrated,  and  that  "living  your  religion  "  in 
Utah  for  a  Mormon  was  a  euphemism  for  marrying  polygamously. 

The  apparent  frankness  with  which  the  successor  of  Brigham 
Young  admitted  the  moral  perverseness  of  himself  and  associates 
set  the  dignified  Senators  on  the  Committee  of  Privileges  and 
Elections  agape  with  wonder. 

For  three  days  and  a  half  this  representative  of  the  Church 
of  the  Latter  Day  Saints  and  of  all  that  Mormonism  means  and 
proposes,  sat  at  the  end  of  a  long  table  in  the  Senate  committee 
room  and  answered  the  most  personal  of  inquiries  and  made 
admissions  of  guilt  sufficient  to  convict  him  and  send  him  to  the 
penitentiary  in  any  State  whose  laws  recognize  the  decencies  of 
the  private  life  and  do  not  treat  as  misdemeanors  infractions  of 
the  law  that  involves  the  principles  of  the  Seventh  Command- 
ment. President  Smith's  bearing  and  his  open  confessions  were 
a  puzzle  to  members  of  the  committee  and  to  the  auditors  who 
daily  gathered  in  expectancy  of  still  more  salacious  revelations 
regarding  the  religion,  practices  and  life  of  the  Mormons. 


540  POLYGAMY  ;    OR,    THE    MYSTERIES 

The  first  impression  formed  of  this  head  of  the  Mormon 
Church  was  that  of  a  simple,  white-bearded,  patriarchal  citizen 
in  whom  there  was  no  guile.  He  looked  the  part  of  a  father  of 
the  church.  Mormons  largely  run  to  whiskers  and  President 
Smith  set  an  example  in  that  particular. .  He  is  a  tall  man,  six 
feet  and  over,  and  built  out  in  proportion.  While  his  hair  and 
beard,  luxurious  and  white,  would  add  glory  to  a  noble  counte- 
nance and  head,  he  possessed  none  of  the  features  that  indicate 
great  mentality,  wisdom  or  power.  His  nose,  distinctly  Roman, 
added  to  his  good  looks,  but  a  pair  of  blue  eyes,  inexpressive, 
except  with  a  squint  of  shrewdness,  were  commonplace  and 
looked  through  gold-rimmed  spectacles. 

A  study  of  the  president's  face  did  not  confirm  the  first 
impression  of  dignity,  gravity  and  power.  It  was  not  a  face  to 
inspire  confidence.  The  flowing  beard  could  not  conceal  a 
cunning  that  was  observable  in  so  many  of  the  dignitaries  of  the 
Church  of  the  Latter  Day  Saints.  This  cunning  probably  fur- 
nished the  explanation  of  President  Smith's  apparently  frank 
and  open  avowal  of  polygamous  cohabitation  in  violation  of  the 
law.  The  question  was  asked  hundreds  of  times,  why  does  this 
man  incriminate  himself,  when  he  is  not  on  trial  and  is  not 
obliged  to  bear  testimony  that  will  prove  his  own  wrongdoing. 

The  answer  which  the  Mormon  made  to  this  was  that  he  had 
nothing  to  conceal,  that  he  was  brave  and  courageously  declared 
his  participation  in  practices  which  the  church  sanctioned  and 
required.  His  brethren  put  him  in  the  light  of  a  martyr,  who 
was  ready  to  go  to  the  stake  for  his  faith. 

The  protestants,  who  were  endeavoring  to  show  that  United 
States  Senator  Smoot  was  not  entitled  to  hold  his  seat  because 
he  participated  in  the  councils  of  the  church  that  upholds  and 
sanctions  this  wrongdoing,  knew  that  President  Smith's  frank- 
ness was  not  due  to  a  courageous  spirit  to  tell  all  he  knew. 
All  he  had  done  was  well  known  and  would  have  come  out  in 
this  investigation  in  its  blackest  and  most  scandalous  char- 
acter; so  President  Smith  shrewdly  determined  to  anticipate 
disclosures  and  in  mock  heroics  place  his  violations  of  law  on 
the  highest  plane  of  humanity. 


AND    CRIMES    OF    MORMONISM.  541 

Time  and  again  he  pounded  the  committee  table  and  assever- 
vated  that  nothing,  not  even  Congress,  should  compel  him  to 
desert  his  wives  and  children.  He  appealed  to  a  spirit  of  fair- 
ness that  has  often  been  expressed  in  the  discussion  of  the  Mor. 
mon  question  that  the  unfortunate  wives  and  children  of  polygamists 
should  not  be  deprived  of  support.  President  Smith  played  on 
this  string  for  all  it  is  worth,  but  found  some  difficulty  in  exciting 
sympathy  when  he  bluntly  and  openly  declared  that  he  not  only 
supported  the  wives  he  took  before  polygamy  was  debarred  by  the 
enabling  act  of  Utah,  but  still  lived  with  them  as  formerly,  and 
they  bore  children  to  him. 

There  was  some  sympathy  displayed  in  the  committee  room 
"  when  this  white-whiskered  Mormon  in  broken  tones  declared  that 
he  would  never  desert  his  wives  and  offspring,  but  when  he  con- 
fessed to  the  continued  practice  of  what  the  law  regards  as  open 
adultery,  a  shudder  of  disgust  passed  over  the  assemblage.  Smith 
never  blushed  or  evinced  the  slighest  hesitancy  in  admitting  his 
guilt. 

He  seemed  to  take  a  quiet  pleasure  in  dwelling  upon  his  rela- 
tions with  the  five  women  whom  he  married  prior  to  the  so-called 
abolition  of  polygamy  in  Utah.  He  further  tickled  the  taste  for 
the  shady  by  delaring  that  his  wives,  like  other  women,  were 
jealous,  and  he  was  compelled  to  show  them  equal  favor  by  living 
with  them  all. 

When  President  Smith  discussed  these  features  of  Mormon 
life,  which  are  regarded  as  reprehensible  and  disgusting,  his 
effrontery  seemed  to  separate  him  at  once  from  the  distinguished 
committee  sitting  at  the  same  table  with  him.  Clean-lived  men 
like  the  venerable  Senator  Hoar  or  Senator  Pettus  looked  with 
unconcealed  wonder  upon  a  man  who  would,  in  the  presence  of 
United  States  Senators  and  distinguished  women  representing 
various  organizations,  whose  object  was  the  elevation  and  purify- 
ing of  the  moral  life  of  the  country,  confess  such  immorality. 

It  was  admitted  by  all  who  listened  to  President  Smith's  testi- 
mony that  he  was  well  drilled,  and,  from  a  Mormon  viewpoint, 
well  fitted  to  be  the  head  of  the  church.  He  announced  with 
vigor  and  unction  his  faith  in  revelation,  and  his  absolute  belief 


542  POLYGAMY;  OR,  THE  MYSTERIES 

that  he,  the  head  of  the  -church,  was  the  instrument  that  God 
uses  in  making  revelations  to  the  Church  of  the  Latter-day 
Saints. 

It  was  noticed  that  he  placed  great  stress  on  the  authority  of 
his  revelations  until  pressed  from  cover  to  cover  by  Senator  Hoar, 
when  he  very  weakly  declared  that  whenever  a  revelation  and 
the  law  conflicted  he  would  endeavor  to  obey  the  law.  This 
declaration  caused  a  smile  to  ripple  over  the  faces  of  those  in  the 
room  who  knew  how  far  the  Mormon  Church  dignitaries  practice 
that  principle. 

The  most  unprejudiced  observer  was  struck  by  the  insincerity 
of  Mormonism  when  he  saw  this  commonplace  man  and  heard 
him  declare  that  God  chose  Joseph  Smith,  Jr.,  as  His  medium  of 
communication  with  His  church,  and  after  him  Brigham  Young 
and  his  successors  down  to  the  witness. 

When  the  character  of  the  revelations  that  have  come  through 
these  sources  is  considered,  the  humbug  practiced  on  thousands 
of  stolid  peasantry,  who  make  up  the  rank  and  file  of  the  Mormon 
Church,  is  appreciated. 

It  was  the  general  impression  that  President  Smith's  testimony 
was  of  the  most  damaging  character  against  the  right  and  pro- 
priety of  Senator  Reed  Smoot  to  sit  in  the  United  States  Senate. 

Mr.  Smith  said  that  his  election  as  president  was  after  Mr. 
Smooths  election  as  an  apostle. 

Senator  Foraker  asked  Mr.  Smith  if  he  had  had  any  objection  to 
Mr.  Smoot  becoming  a  candidate  for  Senator,  and  Mr.  Smith  said: 

<(  I  gave  my  consent  to  his  becoming  a  candidate/' 

"Why  did  you  think  your  consent  necessary  ?  ''  asked  Chair- 
man Burrows. 

"  Because  it  is  a  rule  that  any  one  of  the  general  authorities  of 
the  church  desiring  to  engage  in  any  business  outside  of  his 
church  duties,  must  get  the  consent  of  the  first  presidency  and 
the  twelve  apostles  before  he  can  do  so,"  said  Mr.  Smith. 

Mr.  Taylor  returned  to  the  testimony  in  regard  to  the  number 
of  children  Mr.  Smith  had  since  the  manifesto  of  1890,  and  the 
witness  repeated  that  there  had  been  eleven,  to  the  best  of  his 
recollection. 


AND    CRIMES    OF    MORMONISM.  543 

Mr.  Taylor  pressed  the  witness  for  a  detailed  statement  of  the 
children  by  his  wives,  and  the  witnessed  protested  vigorously. 

"Am  I  to  understand  that  I  am  not  to  be  permitted  to  have 
children  by  my  lawful  wife  ?  "  he  asked  of  the  chairman.  "  Un- 
less I  am  compelled  to  do  so,  I  shall  decline  to  answer  any 
questions  in  regard  to  the  number  of  children  I  have  had  by  my 
first  wife." 

"What  do  you  mean  by  lawful  wife?"  asked  Chairman 
Burrows. 

"I  have  a  legal  wife,''  answered  Mr.  Smith.  "I  mean  the 
woman  I  married  first — the  woman  I  married  many  years  ago. 
She  is  the  mother  of  eleven  of  my  children." 

Chairman  Burrows  inquired : 

"  How  many  children  have  you  now,  Mr.  Smith?" 

1  ' Forty-  two,"  was  the  answer;  21  boys  and  21  girls,  and 
I'm  proud  of  every  one  of  them." 

The  witness  was  asked  by  Senator  Burrows  if  Joseph  Smith, 
Jr.,  the  founder  of  the  Mormon  Church,  was  a  polygamist,  and 
after  answering  affirmatively,  he  said  that  Mr.  Smith  was  mar- 
ried to  Eliza  R.  Snow  in  1842,  and  to  Maria  Partridge  in  the 
forties.  His  first  wife  was  living  with  him  when  he  married  the 
second. 

As  Mr.  Smith  started  to  leave  the  stand,  Senator  Dubois  asked 
the  ages  of  President  Woodruff  and  of  President  Snow  at  the 
time  of  their  deaths. 

"  It  appears  that  both  were  more  than  70  when  the  manifesto 
was  issued,"  said  Senator  Dubois.  "  You  have  testified  that 
both  obeyed  the  law  in  regard  to  polygamous  cohabitation  and 
have  not  practiced  it  since  that  time.  I  think  it  likely/' 

Senator  Overmann  said  that  he  had  a  pamphlet  saying  that 
Jesus  Christ  was  a  polygamist.  Turning  to  Mr.  Smith,  he  asked : 

"  Is  that  what  your  church  teaches  ?" 

"No,  sir,"  was  the  response.  "  What  we  teach  is  that  Jesus 
Christ  was  descended  through  a  long  line  of  polygamists  from 
David  and  back  to  Abraham." 

As  soon  as  Smith  had  retired,  the  prosecution  called  Mrs. 
Kennedy  to  tell  the  story  of  having  been  married  into  a  plural 


544  POLYGAMY;  OR,  THE  MYSTERIES 

marriage  since  the  manifesto  of  1890.  She  said  the  ceremony 
had  been  performed  by  an  apostle  of  the  Mormon  Church. 

She  was  born  in  Albany,  N.  Y.,  twenty-seven  years  before  and 
went  with  her  parents  to  Utah  when  she  was  two  years  old.  Her 
parents  were  Mormons  and  she  had  been  brought  up  in  that 
faith,  and  had  been  taught  the  propriety  of  the  plural  marriage, 
and  in  fact  never  had  known  any  different  life  until  after  her 
marriage. 

The  family  moved  to  Diaz,  Mexico,  when  she  was  about  4  years 
old,  where  she  lived  until  she  was  17  years  old,  when  she  was 
married  to  James  Francis  Johnson,  who  already  had  one  wife. 
Mrs.  Kennedy  said  she  met  the  first  wife  and  they  had  "  a  slight 
interview"  about  going  into  the  family  as  a  second  wife.  The 
first  wife  gave  her  consent  to  the  arrangement. 

According  to  arrangement,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Johnson  and  baby 
and  the  witness  drove  from  Diaz  to  Juarez,  Mexico,  to  be  mar- 
ried. They  remained  there  two  weeks  before  the  ceremony  was 
performed. 

"  Where  were  you  married  ?"  asked  Mr.  Taylor. 

"  At  the  home  of  A.  C.  McDonald,  the  counselor  to  the  first 
president  of  the  stake  "  (meaning  the  Mormon  stake),  said  the 
witness. 

"When?" 

"May  19,  1896." 

"  Who  married  you?'* 

"Brother  Young." 

44  Do  you  mean  Brigham  Young,  the  apostle  ?" 

"Yes,  sir." 

The  witness  was  asked  by  Mr.  Taylor  if  she  ever  had  seen 
Apostle  Young  before,  and  she  said  she  had  in  Diaz  and  Juarez 
two  or  three  times,  and  that  she  could  not  be  mistaken.  She 
could  not  identify  a  picture  of  Young. 

Mrs.  Kennedy  said  she  lived  with  Mr.  Johnson  about  five 
years,  part  of  the  time  in  the  same  house  with  the  first  wife  and 
part  of  the  time  away  from  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Johnson.  She  said 
she  had  two  children  by  Mr.  Johnson,  one  of  whom  was  now  liv- 
ing. She  separated  from  Mr.  Johnson  at  the  end  of  five  years. 


AND    CRIMES    OP    MORMONISM.  545 

and  about  a  year  after  that  mrrried  Mr.  Kennedy,  by  whom  she 
had  two  children.  Her  present  husband  is  an  Episcopalian,  but 
she  remains  in  the  Mormon  Church. 

Senator  Foraker  questioned  the  witness  in  regard  to  the  cere- 
mony uniting  her  to  Johnson.  She  said  she  could  not  remember 
much  about  it,  except  that  there  were  present  Mr.  Johnson, 
Brother  Young  and  Mr.  McDonald.  There  was  no  prayer,  she 
said,  but  she  remembered  that  she  stood  up  and  answered  "Yes" 
to  the  questions  that  were  asked  her. 

The  witness  said  she  accompanied  her  husband  to  Mesa, 
Arizona,  where  he  was  counselor  to  the  stake  president. 

"Why  did  you  separate  from  your  husband?''  Senator 
Foraker  asked. 

"  Well,  I  could  not  stand  the  pressure  any  longer,"  she 
replied. 

"What  do  you  mean  by  i  could  not  stand  the  pressure?'1 
asked  Chairman  Burrows.     "  Were  you  not  treated  right  ?  " 

"  No,  sir ;  I  was  not/'  she  said. 

"  Would  you  have  stayed  if  you  had  been  treated  right  ?  It 
was  not  because  you  were  opposed  to  Mormonism?  "  was  asked. 

"  I  am  a  Mormon  still,"  she  replied,  "  though  I  am  not  a  very 
good  one." 

Senator  Hoar  asked  the  witness  if  she  had  received  any  form 
of  marriage  certificate  from  Apostle  Young,  and  she  replied  that 
she  had  not. 

Apostle  Merrill  stated  in  his  testimony  before  the  investigat- 
ing committee  that  he  had  six  wives  and  had  had  forty-five 
children.  Like  President  Smith  he  considered  it  his  duty  to  live 
with  his  family  and  provide  for  them  and  was  willing  to  take  the 
consequences.  He  was  the  champion  apostle  regarding  the 
number  of  wives  and  the  multitude  of  his  offspring. 

Charles  E.  Merrill,  a  son  of  Apostle  Merrill,  was  then  called 
to  the  stand.  He  said  he  was  the  son  of  his  father's  third  plural 
wife,  and  was  himself  a  polygamist.  In  answer  to  questions 
concerning  his  own  marriages  Mr.  Merrill  said  he  was  married 
first  in  1887  to  a  wife  that  died  in  1889,  and  that  he  married  his 
"legal  wife,''  Chloe  Hendricks,  in  1891,  and  had  five  children 
35 


546  POLYGAMY 

by  her.  He  married  another  wife  in  1888,  the  ceremony  being 
performed  in  the  Logan  Temple  by  M.  C.  Edwardson.  He  had 
four  children  by  that  wife. 

u  The  marriage  to  my  legal  wife  in  1891,"  said  Mr.  Merrill, 
"was  solemnized  by  my  father." 

"  Were  you  living  with  Anna  B.  Stoddard  when  you  married 
the  woman  you  call  your  legal  wife  ?  "  was  asked. 

"  I  was,  although  she  had  no  house.  She  stayed  at  the  home 
of  her  father  and  her  mother,  and  I  lived  with  my  mother,'' 
answered  the  witness. 

In  answer  to  a  question  from  Chairman  Burrows,  Mr. 
Merrill  said  he  now  had  two  wives,  and  was  cohabiting  with 
both.  Senator  Foraker  asked  the  witness  : — 

"  Is  not  the  woman  you  married  in  1888  your  legal  wife? '' 

"No,  sir.'' 

Mr.  Merrill  explained  that  when  he  married  in  1888  he  had  a 
wife  living,  and  that  he  understood  under  the  laws  that  marriage 
was  not  legal,  and  that  therefore  his  marriage  in  1891,  after  the 
death  of  his  first  wife  in  1889,  made  his  last  marriage  a  legal 
one. 

Senator  Overmann  asked  for  a  description  of  the  marriage 
ceremony  in  1888,  and  the  witness  declared  that  he  could  not 
remember  how  it  was  performed  except  that  he  went  to  the 
temple  in  Logan  and  it  was  performed  there.  In  response  to  a 
question  by  Senator  Dubois,  Mr.  Merrill  said  there  was  no 
marriage  certificate  issued,  no  record,  or  any  documents  of  any 
kind  so  far  as  he  knew.  He  said  there  wras  no  music,  no  prayer, 
and  no  questions  that  he  could  remember. 

"  There  was  nothing  but  the  marriage  ceremony,''  he  said 
with  emphasis. 

"  Well,  tell  us  about  that,"  several  members  of  the  Committee 
demanded. 

(i  I  can't  repeat  it,"  said  the  witness. 

"  Do  you  mean  to  say  that  you  do  not  know  the  ordinary 
marriage  ceremony  in  your  Church  ? "  asked  Senator  Hoar, 
severely. 

"  Yes,  I  know  that,"  answered  the  witness. 


AND    CRIMES    OF    MORMONISM.  547 

"  And  wasn't  that  what  was  used  ?  ''  he  was  asked. 

The  witness  said  it  was.  He  was  told  to  give  the  substance  of 
it.  He  said  he  and  his  wife  stood  up  and  joined  hands. 

"  They  made  you  promise  something,  did  they  not?"  inquired 
Senator  Hoar. 

"Yes,  sir.'' 

"  But  you  have  forgotten  what  it  was  ? "  the  Senator 
remarked  with  a  laugh. 

"  Oh,  no,  I  haven't  forgotten,"  said  Mr.  Merrill.  He  then 
said  that  he  had  promised  to  love,  cherish  and  support  the 
woman. 

"  And  did  you  continue  to  cohabit  with  her  after  you  married 
the  woman  you  call  your  legal  wife  ? "  Chairman  Burrows 
asked. 

The  witness  said  he  lived  with  both  wives,  but  they  had  dif- 
ferent homes  in  Richmond,  Utah,  about  a  mile  apart. 

"  You  say  you  were  living  with  your  mother  when  you  were 
married  the  second  time.  Where  was  your  father,  Apostle  Mer- 
rill, at  that  time  ? ''  was  asked. 

uHe  was  on  the  underground  most  of  the  time,''  said  the 
witness  jocularly. 

"  What  do  you  mean  by  '  on  the  underground  ?  ' ''  asked  Mr. 
Worthington. 

"  He  was  in  hiding.'' 

"  Why  was  he  in  hiding  ?  "  asked  the  Chairman. 

"  Because  about  that  time  there  were  prosecutions  going  on  for 
polygamy,''  Mr.  Merrill  answered.  He  said  that  oftentimes  he 
would  not  see  his  father  for  a  month. 

Mr.  Merrill  said  that  he  had  taken  his  1888  wife  to  his  mother's 
home  occasionally,  but  that  she  had  never  stayed  all  night  there, 
and  so  far  as  he  knew  his  father  did  not  know  that  he  had  a  wife 
already  when  he  was  married  by  his  father  to  the  woman  he  calls 
his  .legal  wife.  'Mr.  Merrill  said  his  father  was  still  living  and 
still  an  apostle  of  the  church,  but  very  feeble. 

In  regard  to  his  family,  Mr.  Merrill  said  he  had  a  father 
with  six  wives,  and  that  he  had  twenty  brothers  and  seventeen 
sisters.  He  was  asked  how  many  nephews  and  nieces  he  had. 


548  POLYGAMY;  OR,  THE  MYSTERIES 

and  he  said  he  did  not  know,  but  thought  there  were  more  than 
one  hundred. 

"  My  father  lives  with  his  first  wife,  and  comes  to  the  home  of 
my  mother  probably  not  more  than  once  a  month/'  he  said. 
u  My  father  is  a  very  busy  man/ '  the  witness  supplemented.  Mr. 
Merrill  thought  three  of  his  brothers  had  married  plural  wives, 
and  that  two  of  his.  sisters  had  married  into  polygamous  families. 

The  prosecution  called  to  the  stand  Mrs.  Emma  Matthews,  of 
Marysville,  Utah,  mother  of  Mrs.  Clara  Mabel  Kennedy.  Mrs. 
Matthews  said  she  had  been  a  member  of  a  Mormon  family  for 
twenty-five  years,  and  is  a  Mormon  herself.  She  had  been  a 
plural  wife,  but  was  not  now.  Mrs.  Kennedy  was  the  child  of 
Mrs.  Matthews'  first  husband,  and.was  born  before  Mrs.  Matthews 
became  a  Mormon. 

Mrs.  Matthews  said  that  while  living  at  Diaz,  she  had  known 
Mr.  Johnson  for  two  years  prior  to  his  marriage  to  her  daughter, 
and  that  she  had  had  no  objection  to  her  daughter  becoming  his 
plural  wife.  She  remembered  well  the  marriage  of  Johnson  to  her 
daughter,  and  fixed  the  date  definitely  at  May,  1894.  "  He  just 
asked  me  if  I  was  willing  that  he  should  marry  my  daughter, 
and  I  said  i  Yes,'  "  said  the  witness.  "  She  wanted  to  wait  until 
she  was  18,  but  he  was  not  willing.''  She  saw  both  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Johnson,  the  first  wife,  when  they  and  the  daughter,  who 
was  to  become  the  second  wife,  left  for  Juarez. 

"  Did  you  know  your  daughter  was  to  be  married  then  to 
Johnson  ? ' ' 

u  I  did  not." 

"  Then,  you  did  not  see  her  married  ? '' 

"  I  did  not.'' 

"  Has  she  ever  told  you  that  she  was  married  to  Johnson, 
then?'' 

*'  She  has  not     1  never  asked  her.'' 

Mrs.  Matthews  also  gave  some  facts  concerning  her  own  his- 
tory, in  response  to  questions  by  members  of  the  Committee. 
She  is  a  native  of  England,  and  while  living  a  widow  in  that 
country  had  become  converted  to  Mormonism  about  1885,  by 
George  Barber,  a  missionary  of  the  Mormon  Church.  She 


AND    CRIMES    OF    MORMONISM.  549 

afterwards  came  to  Utah  and  married  Barber,  becoming  his  third 
wife.  She  had,  she  said,  embraced  Mormonism  knowing  that  it 
inculcated  polygamy,  but  when  she  became  a  plural  wife  she  was 
not  told  that  polygamy  was  against  the  law  of  the  land.  Merrill 
was  temporarily  recalled  and  questioned  by  Senator  Dubois,  who 
asked : 

"  Mr.  Merrill,  do  you  still  uphold  the  doctrine  of  polygamy  ?  " 

"No,  sir,"  was  the  reply. 

"  But  do  you  practice  it  ?  " 

« I  do." 

"  How  do  you  reconcile  the  two  statements?"  one  of  the 
members  of  the  Committee  asked.  The  witness  did  not  reply, 
but  a  member  of  the  Committee  illustrated  by  saying  he  was  like 
the  man  who  was  for  prohibition  and  against  the  enforcement  of  it. 

Francis  M.  Lyman,  member  of  the  First  Presidency  of  the 
Mormon  Church,  and  the  prospective  successor  of  Mr.  Smith  as 
President  of  the  Church,  was  the  next  witness.  He  was  born 
sixty-four  years  before,  and  became  an  apostle  in  1880. 

"  Are  you  a  polygamist  ?  ' '  Mr.  Taylor  asked,  and  the  witness 
replied  frankly,  "  Yes.' ' 

"  He  said  he  had  had  three  wives,  and  that  of  them  two  are 
still  living. 

By  his  second  wife,  to  whom  he  was  married  in  1884,  he  had 
had  five  children,  the  last  being  born  in  1900.  Mr.  Lyman  said 
he  had  been  one  of  the  signers  of  the  prayer  for  amnesty, 
pledging  himself  to  all  that  it  contained.  He  did  not,  however, 
recall  just  what  it  did  contain. 

Mr.  Taylor  read  portions  of  the  prayer.  "  Did  you/'  he 
asked,  "  interpret  that  to  mean  that  you  would  abstain  from 
polygamous  cohabitation  ?'* 

"  I  interpreted  it  to  mean  that  I  should  do  all  that  was  right.'' 

"  Did  you  think  it  would  be  right  to  abstain  from  polygamous 
cohabitation  ?  " 

This  was  not  answered  directly  at  the  time.  Several  questions 
by  members  of  the  Committee  followed  in  rapid  succession,  and 
Mr.  Lyman  admitted  in  response  to  them  that  he  knew  that  in 
living  in  polygamy  he  was  disobeying  both  the  law  of  the  land  and 


550  POLYGAMY;  OR,  THE  MYSTERIES 

the  rule  of  the  Church.  He  also  said  in  reply  to  one  of  these 
questions  that  he  was  not  only  now  living  in  polygamous  cohab- 
itation, but  that  he  expected  to  continue  so  to  live. 

Mr.  Hoar  at  last  took  the  witness  in  hand  and  brought  out  a 
succinct  statement  from  him  which  was  of  a  character  to  interest 
all  present. 

"  Referring  to  the  rule  of  which  you  have  spoken,"  Mr.  Hoar 
said,  "you  understand  the  rule  or  law  of  the  church  to  be  the 
law  of  God,  do  you  not  ?  " 

Mr.  Lyman  replied  that  such  was  his  understanding. 

"  Then  you  are  living  and  intend  to  live  in  violation  of  the 
law  of  God  and  man  ?  " 

"  I  fully  intend,"  said  Mr.  Lyman,  showing  a  disposition  to 
elaborate  more  than  he  had  done,  "  to  be  true  to  the  law  of  my 
country,  to  my  God,  and  to  my  obligations  and  covenants  with 
my  wives,  and  I  have  never  done  a  thing  that  my  conscience  did 
not  approve." 

"  So  you,''  said  Senator  Hoar,  u  an  apostle  of  your  church, 
expecting  to  succeed  Mr.  Smith  in  the  Presidency,  and  in  that 
capacity  to  receive  divine  revelations  yourself,  confess  that  you 
are  now  living  and  expect  to  continue  to  live  in  disobedience  to 
the  law  of  the  country,  to  the  law  of  your  church,  and  to  the 
law  of  God?" 

The  witness  tried  to  evade  a  direct  answer,  but  was  finally  com- 
pelled to  say  "yes." 

Mr.  Lyman  was  asked  what  distinction  he  made  between  the 
revelations  he  obeyed  and  those  he  did  not  obey. 

"  I  suppose  you  mean  the  laws  I  have  confessed  that  I  have 
violated  in  living  with  plural  wives?  "he  asked.  When  told 
that  was  what  was  meant,  he  said : 

u  I  trust  myself  to  the  mercy  of  the  Lord.'' 

"Have  you  ever  repented  of  that  disobedience?  "  asked  Mr. 
Hoar. 

"Not  yet." 

"  Did  Senator  Smoot  know  that  you  were  living  with  plural 
•wives? ''  was  asked. 

Mr.  Lyinan  answered  that  Senator  Smoot  did  not  know,  as  he 


AND    CRIMES    OF    MORMONISM.  551 

never  had  met  any  one  of  his  wives.  He  said  that  the  people  in 
general  in  Utah  knew,  but  that  he  did  not  think  Mr.  Smoot  had 
any  knowledge  of  the  fact.  He  said  he  was  so  generally  known 
and  his  reputation  was  so  wide  that  what  was  admitted  as  a  fact 
in  regard  to  him  would  be  accepted  by  the  people  as  true. 

Chairman  Burrows  insisted  on  knowing  if  the  people  of  Utah 
knew  in  regard  to  his  life  why  Senator  Smoot  could  not  know 
just  as  well.  The  witness  responded  several  times  that  the 
people  must  have  known,  but  that  Senator  Smoot  did  not, 
whereupon  Senator  Hoar  demanded  to  know  what  the  witness 
meant  by  such  answers.  The  witness  then  said  that  Senator 
Smoot  probably  knew  just  as  much  about  the  question  as  the 
people  in  general. 

"  Do  you  take  back  what  you  said  then  that  the  people  knew 
and  Senator  Smoot  did  not  know  ? ' '  asked  Senator  Hoar. 

"I  take  that  back.'' 

"Don't  you  think,  Mr.  Apostle,  that  it  behooves  you  to  be  a 
little  careful  about  what  you  say,  so  that  you  will  not  have  any- 
thing to  take  backj?  ' '  asked  the  Senator  severely. 

Senator  Hoar  followed  this  question  by  asking  the  witness  if 
he  had  received  a  revelation  concerning  what  he  was  to  testify  to 
on  the  stand,  and.  whether  such  a  revelation  could  be  responsible 
for  his  change  of  mind  in  regard  to  the  questions  asked. 

"  Are  your  answers  here  by  order  of  the  Lord  ? ,  Are  they 
given  in  your  human  or  inspired  capacity  ?  "  the  Senator  asked. 

"  I  answer  as  the  spirit  of  the  Lord  directs." 

"  Then  it  was  the  spirit  of  the  Lord  which  directed  you  to 
make  the  answer  you  just  took  back  and  which  you  said  was  a 
mistake  ?  " 

The  witness  hesitated,  and  Senator  Hoar  remarked : 

"  Well,  if  you  can't  answer  that  I  don't  blame  you.'' 

"  Now,  in  regard  to  consent  given  Senator  Smoot  to  become  a 
candidate  for  Senator — suppose  President  Smith  had  refused  to 
give  this  consent  and  Smoot  had  insisted  on  becoming  a  candi- 
date, what  would  have  happened  to  him  ? ' '  asked  Senator 
Dubois. 

Mr.  Lyman  said  Senator  Smoot  would  have  been  considered 


taken 


552  POLYGAMY;  OR,  THE  MYSTERIES 

insubordinate,  and  probably  would  have  been  disciplined,  t 
to  task,  reproved  or  corrected.  He  was  asked  what  would  have 
happened  in  the  event  President  Smith  had  given  his  consent  to 
another  apostle  to  become  a  candidate  for  the  Senate. 

"  I  don't  know.  It  would  have  made  lots  of  confusion.  We 
will  '  scrap '  about  that  question  when  it  comes  to  us.'' 

"  Do  you  mean  to  say,"  asked  Senator  Hoar,  "  that  a  revela- 
tion from  the  Lord,  which  has  been  rejected  by  the  people  would 
count  for  nothing.'' 

"  It  would  count  for  nothing  for  those  who  rejected  it." 

"  Would  it  be  binding  upon  the  instrument  of  the  Lord  who 
received  the  revelation  ?  I  mean,  if  the  revelation  should  be 
received  by  you  and  the  people  refused  to  accept  it,  would  it  be 
binding  upon  you  to  follow  the  revelation,  or  to  follow  the  wish 
of  the  people?  " 

"  We  should  follow  the  wish  of  the  people." 

"  Well  how  about  you  ?  '' 

"  I  should  be  bound  by  what  the  people  direct." 

''  Then,"  said  Senator  Hoar,  "  the  voice  of  the  people  is  of 
more  authority  than  the  mandate  of  the  Lord  ?  ' ' 

"The  law  of  the  Lord  is  whatever  is  done  by  common 
consent." 

"  Then  the  Lord  submits  to  the  people  whatever  he  desires  to 
have  done,  and  if  the  people  like  it  they  give  their  consent. 
That  is  your  belief,  is  it  ?  '' 

"  People  have  their  rights,  and  they  must  be  respected," 
answered  the  witness. 

"  The  Lord  can't  make  the  people  do  right  or  accept  His  laws. 
Man  tis  left  to  follow  his  own  agency  in  regard  to  religion, 
business  and  politics.'' 

"Then,"  persisted  Senator  Hoar,  "where  the  Lord  has 
chosen  certain  persons  as  apostles  and  the  people  do  not  care  to 
accept  the  selection,  what  happens?  " 

"  The  man  always  steps  aside  when  the  people  reject.'' 

"They  have  a  sort  of  veto  power  over  the  Lord,  then?'* 
remarked  Senator  Hoar. 


AND   CRIMES   OF   MOEMONISM.  553 


CHAPTER  XXV. 

HIGH    OFFICIALS    STILL    PRACTICING    POLYGAMY. 

A  Happy  Family— Dinners  and  Euchre  Parties— Favorite  Wife— Plural 
Marriages  Again— Sealing  for  Eternity— Authority  for  Polygamy— Mor- 
mons Perjure  themselves  in  Court— Mormon  Sects  Condemned  by  Admis- 
.siors  of  Its  Own  Members— Critchlow's  Evidence— The  Hierarchy  Re- 
sponsible for  Political  Measures — Celestial  Marriage  of  Dr.  Park — Prom- 
inent Women  Agitators — Polygamy  the  "Seed  and  Glory"  of  Mormon- 
ism— Case  Summed  up  by  a  Leading  Journal — Mormons  of  Brooklyn  in 
Conflict  with  Mormons  of  Utah— Sentiment  of  American  Pulpit. 

THE  following  interesting  statement  was  made  by  a  prominent 
citizen  of  Salt  Lake  City  : 

"  To  the  wonder  of  all  Utah,  there  are  no  spats  in  the  family 
of  Joseph  F.  Smith's  household.  The  head  of  it  conducts  every- 
thing amicably,  and  save  for  one  divorce,  manages  to  avert  trials 
and  troubles  occurring  to  thousands  of  monogamistic  couples  in 
every  strata  of  the  social  rock,  yet  he  has  his  troubles. 

"When  he  goes  forth  to  market  in  the  morning  to  provide 
provender  for  his  charges  he  does  not  carry  a  basket  upon  his 
arm.  Indeed,  it  would  be  more  appropriate  if  he  were  followed 
by  a  furniture  van.  To  provide  for  a  family  of  forty -seven  is  no 
small  item.  It  is  enough  to  occupy  the  time  of  a  man  to  the 
exclusion  of  everything  else,  yet  President  Smith  does  it  after 
the  manner  of  a  true  business  man  and  a  leader  of  practical 
utilitarianism. 

"  It  is  Smith's  custom  to  reside  at  the  home  of  the  first  wife, 
then,  during  the  week,  certain  nights  are  set  apart  on  which  he 
visits  the  other  four  wives.  A  call  from  the  president  is  con- 
sidered a  high  honor  by  the  second,  third,  fourth  and  fifth  wives. 

"  The  family  of  President  Smith  is  said  to  be  an  especially 
happy  one.  He  is  impartial  in  bestowing  his  favors.  The  sym- 
pathetic and  generous  nature  of  Mrs.  Smith  No.  1  has  to  a  great 
extent  prevented  friction  among  the  five  wives. 

"As  an  illustration,  it  might  be  cited  that   when  President 


554  POLYGAMY;  OR,  THE  MYSTERIES 


;St 


Smith  decided  to  attend  the  dedicatory  ceremonies  of  the 
Louis  World's  Fair,  wife  No.  1  voluntarily  offered  to  remain  at 
home  and  permit  wife  No.  2  to  accompany  the  president  to  St. 
Louis.  Every  little  while  the  family  has  a  reunion — a  little 
dinner  or  a  euchre  party.  Wives  and  children  are  gathered 
about  the  feast  or  the  card  table.  The  utmost  jollity  and  good 
humor  prevails. 

••Wives  address  each  other  as  k  dearie,'  or  'sweetie.'  It  is 
never  as  '  Mrs.  Smith.'  The  children  call  each  other  *  brother ' 
or  'sister."' 

"  The  president  and  father  prefers  to  call  his  wives  and  child- 
ren, *  his  family.'  He  does  not  refer  to  it  in  the  plural  sense. 
He  treats  it  collectively.  Yet  President  Smith  is  not  entirely 
free  from  the  cares  of  the  more  ordinary  mortal.  For  instance, 
if  Mrs.  Smith  No.  1  gets  a  new  Spring  bonnet  or  a  new  Fall 
gown  the  other  four  Mrs.  Smiths,  perceiving  the  gift,  rise  to  arms 
and,  pouncing  down  simultaneously  upon  the  husband,  demand 
e»juality  of  treatment. 

"  There  is  nothing  for  the  husband  to  do  but  to  surrender. 
Sartorially,  the  Smith  wives  are  of  the  highest  type.  They  wear 
fashionable  clothes,  and  have  wardrobes  of  plentiful  variety.  It 
is  the  same  way  with  the  children.  They  all  share  and  fare  alike, 
and  have  plenty  and  substantial  clothes.  The  secrets  of  the 
patriarch's  marital  happiness  is  non-discrimination.  Thus  does 
he  keep  peace  in  the  family. 

u  The  gossips  say  that  Edna  L.  Smith,  wife  No.  2,  is  his 
favorite.  Smith  denies  it.  He  says  he  has  no  favorite.  Her 
maiden  name  was  Lambson.  She  is  the  younger  sister  of  Juliana 
Lambson,  who  is  Mrs.  Smith,  No.  1.  President  Smith  one  day 
concluded  to  marry  the  two  sisters.  Accordingly  he  was  legally 
and  religiously  committed  to  the  matrimonial  state  with  both 
within  twenty-four  hours.  About  the  same  time  Lavira  Smith, 
a  woman  he  had  married  a  few  years  before,  but  by  whom  he  had 
had  no  children,  secured  a  divorce  from  him  in  the  courts  of 
California  and  died  soon  after.'' 

Returning  to  the  Senate  investigation,  Lorin  Harmer  testified 
that  he  was  a  bishop  for  five  or  six  years,  but  had  been  sent  to 


AND    CRIMES   OF    MORMONISM.  555 

the  penitentiary  in  1899,  upon  conviction  of  unchastity,  and  lost 
his  good  standing.  He  said  he  had  two  wives,  Ellen  and  Ida, 
and  had  lived  also  with  Ellen  Anderson,  but  never  as  her  husband. 
He  said  she  had  two  children  by  him,  one  since  he  had  returned 
from  the  penitentiary.  He  said  Ellen  Anderson  supports  herself 
and  that  he  had  contributed  nothing  for  the  care  of  herself  or  her 
children. 

Mr.  Harmer  was  asked  if  Senator  Smoot  had  anything  to  do 
with  his  arrest. 

u  I  think  he  caused  it.  He  was  counsellor  at  that  time  to  the 
president  of  the  stake,  who  was  then  away.  He  called  me  to 
Provo  and  told  me  the  church  proposed  to  take  away  my  bis- 
hopric and  other  offices.  I  asked  him  to  give  me  time  to  prepare 
my  family,  and  then  I  started  home.'' 

"  Why  was  he  going  to  take  away  your  office  ?  '' 

u  Because  I  had  committed  a  crime." 

"  Why  do  you  think  Mr.  Smoot  caused  your  arrest  ?•" 

"  Because  before  I  reached  home  the  Sheriff  overtook  me  and 
put  me  under  arrest.  I  blamed  Mr.  Smoot  for  sending  the 
Sheriff  after  me.  I  thought  he  might  have  given  me  more  time, 
although  the  crime  was  a  bad  one.'' 

"  The  officers  of  the  Mormon  Church  are  sensitive  in  regard  to 
charges  that  plural  marriages  have  been  performed  since  1890, 
are  they  not?"  Mr.  Taylor  asked  President  Smith. 

Mr.  Smith  said  he  thought  they  were  very  sensitive  on  that 
subject.  He  was  asked  then  whether  he  had  taken  any  steps  to 
run  down  the  stories  that  the  laws  had  been  violated  by  officers 
of  the  church.  He  answered  that  the  public  charge  did  not  con- 
cern him. 

Reference  was  made  specifically  to  the  charges  against  George 
Teasdale,  an  apostle,  and  Mr.  Smith  was  asked  if  he  did  not  feel 
called  upon  in  that  particular  case  to  make  some  inquiry  in  jus- 
tice to  the  reputation  of  the  church. 

"  It  was  not  my  business  to  do  so." 

"  Well,  now,  suppose  it  was  charged  that  Francis  M.  Lyman, 
president  of  the  apostles,  had  performed  a  plural  marriage  cere- 
mony since  1890,  would  you  not  investigate  that?" 


POLYGAMY;  OR,  THE  MYSTERIES 

"  It  is  not  a  supposable  case,  and  if  it  was  I  could  not  answei 
it." 

Chairman  Burrows  asked  in  regard  to  the  marriage  ceremo 
nies  performed  in  the  church.  He  spoke  of  the  marriages  foi 
time,  the  marriages  for  time  and  eternity,  and  the  marriages  foi 
eternity  only,  and  asked  if  the  latter  is  not  called  "  sealing." 

u  They  are  called  sealing." 

"  Is  this  sealing  for  eternity  ever  performed  for  living  persons  ?" 

"  I  believe  I  have  heard  of  one'  or  two  such  cases,"  said  the 
witness. 

uAre  any  polygamists  ever  sealed  for  eternity?" 

"  No,  sir." 

"  Does  this  service  of  sealing  for  eternity  carry  the  right  of 
earthly  cohabitation  ?" 

"No." 

Chairman  Burrows  asked  the  witness  to  identify  the  Book  of 
Mormon,  and  then  turning  to  the  revelation  of  the  prophet, 
Joseph  Smith,  he  asked  specifically  in  regard  to  the  .manner  it 
was  revealed,  and  was  informed  that  it  was  revealed  to  him  by  God. 

Chairman  Burrows  asked  if  polygamy  was  taught  in  that  book, 
and  Mr.  Smith  answered  that  it  was  emphatically  forbidden. 

Reading  from  the  book,  Chairman  Burrows  called  attention  to 
the  words  of  God  in  reference  to  David  and  Solomon,  and  his 
displeasure  because  of  the  fact  that  they  kept  more  than  one  wife 
and  many  concubines.  The  chairman  asked  if  that  did  not  pro- 
hibit polygamy,  and,  if  that  was  the  case,  when  was  the  law  of 
the  Lord  changed  in  order  to  permit  the  practice. 

Mr.  Smith  said  the  book  or  the  law  had  not  been  modified  and 
that  the  chairman  had  read  only  a  part  of  the  chapter. 

Chairman  Burrows  read  a  verse  where  the  Lord  commands  the 
chastity  of  women,  and  then  Mr.  Smith  took  the  book  and  read 
a  verse  which  declared  that  when  the  Lord  wanted  his  seed  prop- 
agated he  would  command  it.  This,  the  witness  declared,  justifies 
polygamy  when  a  person  is  commanded  by  the  Lord  to  enter  that 
state.  He  said  the  command  came  to  individuals  as  revelations 
from  the  Lord. 

President  Smith's  bold  announcement  amounted  to  a  confrs- 


AND    CRIMES    OF    MORMONISM.  557 

sion  without  attempt  at  avoidance.  What  he  said  in  effect  was : 
"Yes;  we  are  Mormons,  and  we  believe  in  and  practice 
polygamy ;  and  now,  what  are  you  going  to  do  about  it  ?  "  This 
aggressive  stand  was  not  taken  without  due  consultation,  and  the 
President  of  the  Church  doubtless  voiced  the  purpose  and  intent 
of  his  congregation  in  flaunting  polygamy  as  a  divine  institution 
in  the  face  of  this  nation. 

It  is,  of  course,  impossible  to  predict  what  the  Mormon  Church 
intends  to  do,  as  its  inner  councils  are  kept  secret,  even  from  the 
most  faithful  of  the  congregation.  It  is  within  the  limits  of  pos- 
sibility, however,  that,  having  gained  the  advantage  of  Statehood 
by  pretending  to  abandon  polygamy,  the  Mormons  are  now 
ready  to  resume  the  active  propagation  and  practice  of  plural 
marriages.  As  Mr.  Smith  jauntily  observed,  they  are  prepared 
to  defy  the  law  and  take  the  consequences.  The  consequences 
of  violating  the  law  can  only  be  imposed  by  a  proper  Court  on 
testimony  presented,  and  when  Mormons  feel  perfectly  at  liberty, 
as  they  certainly  do,  to  swear  in  Court  as  they  are  directed  by 
their  sacerdotal  superiors,  the  testimony  to  convict  a  delinquent 
can  hardly  by  a  possibility  be  procured.  When  a  cultured  and 
intelligent  woman  will  take  her  oath  that  she  does  not  know  the 
father  of  her  own  children,  as  actually  recorded  in  the  Utah 
Courts,  the  bigamous  Mormon  need  not  fear  the  penalties  follow- 
ing conviction. 

The  statement  of  a  prominent  journal  is  pertinent  in  this 
connection : 

"As  to  Mr.  Smoot's  position,  present  and  prospective,  another 
possibility  suggests  itself.  To  retain  his  seat  in  the  Senate, 
where  he  can  be  useful  to  the .  Mormon  Church,  Mr.  Smoot  may 
be  repudiated  by  the  Church  and  officially  cast  out  from  its  -com- 
munion, so  that  his  claim  to  be  free  from  the  objections  raised 
against  him  as  a  Mormon  may  be  formally  substantiated.  Being 
an  outcast  from  the  Church,  he  can  serve  his  term  in  the  Senate, 
or  can  remain  there  permanently,  if  it  is  found  expedient  for  him 
to  do  so,  and  on  his  retirement  it  will  only  require  another 
special  revelation  for  the  Saints  to  receive  him  back  and  reinstate 
him  in  his  place  as  one  of  the  twelve  Apostles. 


558  POLYGAMY,    OR,    THE    MYSTERIES 

"  The  testimony  of  the  Mormon  '  prophets  '  before  the  Senate 
committee  leaves  no  doubt  as  to  the  fact  that  polygamy  is  a 
corner  stone  of  the  Mormon  belief.  The  president  of  the  church 
said  that  the  members  believed  polygamy  to  be  a  divine  com- 
mand, superior  to  the  law  of  the  land.  He  believes  in  it  and 
practices  it,  and  declares  that  he  would  not  abandon  any  one  of 
his  wives. 

"  The  church  gave  out  a  pretended  '  revelation '  against 
polygamy,  and  when  asked  why  this  <  Divine  '  command  was  not 
obeyed,  the  elders  could  not  explain,  but  admitted  that  it  was 
not  observed  and  would  not  be.  The  '  prophet '  chosen  to 
succeed  the  present  head  of  the  church,  whenever  a  vacancy 
occurs  is  also  a  pronounced  poly gn mist,  living  in  open  defiance 
of  the  law. 

"  The  president  of  the  church  admitted  that  in  a  public  speech 
he  told  his  followers  that  the  doctrine  of  polygamy  was  a  revela- 
tion of  the  will  of  God,  and  to  reject  it  would  be  to  reject  God. 
The  Mormons,  whether  or  not  they  practice  polygamy,  all 
believe  in  it ;  otherwise  they  are  hypocrites,  as  it  is  a  part  of  the 
doctrine  of  the  church. 

u  As  the  president  of  the  church  explained,  there  never  has 
been  a  recantation  of  the  doctrine.  Its  '  suspension '  was 
announced,  but  as  the  heads  of  the  church  defiantly  state  that 
they  paid  no  attention  to  the  *  suspension '  it  is  not  probable 
that  any  member  of  the  church  has  done  so.  That  the  Mormons 
are  faithful  to  this  degrading  practice  is  clear  from  the  fact  that 
they  have  chosen  polygamists  for  the  leading  offices  in  the 
church. 

"  The  Mormon  Church  is  condemned  by  the  admission  of  its 
own  leaders.'5 

The  facts  brought  out  by  the  Committee  of  Investigation  were 
of  the  gravest  description.  E.  B.  Critchlow,  former  Assistant 
United  States  Attorney  for  Utah,  cited  instances  in  which  high 
officials  of  the  Mormon  Church  have  exercised  their  authority 
over  members  of  the  church  to  compel  obedience  in  all  matters, 
and  where  excommunication  has  been  the  price  of  an  independent 
spirit. 


AND    CRIMES    OF    MORMONISM.  559 

Mr.  Critchlow  said  Smoot  announced  his  candidacy  for  the 
Senate  first  in  1900,  and  that  the  announcement  met  with  decided 
opposition  from  Republicans  and  others. 

The  objections  were  manifested,  according  to  the  witness,  at 
the  Salt  Lake  elections  for  members  of  the  Legislature  and  in 
expressions  from  the  Ministerial  Association  of  Utah.  Mormons, 
as  well  as  non-Mormons,  were  opposed  to  sending  an  Apostle  to 
the  Senate,  and  it  was  wTell  known  to  all  that  the  candidacy  of 
Mr.  Smoot  was  not  received  with  favor.  The  witness  said  that 
the  laymen  in  the  Mormon  Church  felt  that  the  candidacy  of  an 
Apostle  would  be  unwise,  when  it  was  charged  that  a  quorum  of 
the  first-Presidency  and  Apostles  were  living  in  open  defiance  of 
the  laws  against  polygamy. 

Mr.  Critchlow  referred  to  an  alleged  interview  with  Reed 
Smoot,  which  appeared  in  the  Salt  Lake  Telegram,  November 
26,  1902,  in  which  Mr.  Smoot  is  charged  with  saying  that 
he  had  no  knowledge  that  any  Apostles  of  the  church  were 
living  in  polygamy.  It  was  stated  by  the  Telegram  that  Mr. 
Smoot  was  told  that  if  he  wanted  the  information  it  would 
be  furnished,  accompanied  by  all  dates  and  facts  concerning  the 
marriages. 

Reference  was  made  to  the  necessity  of  Mormons  getting  the 
consent  of  their  associates  to  go  into  certain  business  projects, 
and  the  effect  of  proceeding  if  such  consent  was  withheld.  Mr. 
Critchlow  said  it  was  the  opinion  of  non-Mormons  and  of  many 
of  the  Mormons,  that  if  officials,  such  as  Apostles,  should  enter 
politics  there  was  no  chance  for  lay  members  and  they  would  not 
dare  to  aspire  to  high  political  honors.  The  necessity  of  Apostles 
getting  consent  is  equivalent  to  church  indorsement  when  that 
consent  is  given,  said  the  witness. 

"  You  say  they  would  not  dare  to  aspire  to  office,"  said  Sena- 
tor Beveridge.  "  What  would  happen  if  they  did  ?  " 

<(  They  would  undoubtedly  be  dealt  with — '' 

"  How  ?  " 

"  They  would  be  held  to  be  out  of  harmony  and  not  disposed 
to  take  council  of  those  higher  in  the  Church." 

"  Well,  what  of  that  ?    What  would  have  been  done  to  them  ?'' 


560  POLYGAMY;  OR,  THE  MYSTERIES 

"  They  would  have  been  disfellowshipped  and  ostracized  from 
the  Church.  >' 

The  witness  when  asked  concerning  Senator  Smoot's  power  to  pre- 
vent the  violations  of  the  laws  in  regard  to  polygamous  living  said : 

"  By  one  word  Smoot  could  either  stop  what  is  going  on  or 
cease  to  be  an  apostle.'' 

To  show  the  general  feeling  of  gentiles  toward  the  Mormons, 
Mr.  Wolcot  brought  out  in  the  cross-examination  that  Mr. 
Critchlow  had  voted  to  elect  polygamists  as  members  of  the  Con- 
stitutional Convention,  and  that  he  had  been  on  the  stump  with 
John-  Henry  Smith,  who  is  a  polygamist. 

As  Chairman  Burrows  adjourned  the  committee,  he  remarked : 

"  All  this  exemplifies  what  is  often  stated,  that  politics  makes 
strange  bed-fellows. n 

A  curious  result  of  celestial  marriage  came  into  the  courts  of 
Utah  within  a  recent  period.  Dr.  John  R.  Park  was  one  of  the 
leading  educators  in  the  early  days  of  Utah.  He  was  a  devout 
Mormon,  but  he  was  more  interested  in  the  Church  schools,  of 
which  he  was  one  of  the  founders,  than  he  was  in  purely  religious 
work. 

Many  years  ago  he  was  on  a  vessel  coming  from  Liverpool. 
On  the  same  vessel  was  a  young  English  girl,  by  name  Annie 
Armitage.  She  had  recently  been  converted  to  the  Mormon 
faith,  and  with  others  was  on  her  way  to  the  land  of  Zion  in  the 
heart  of  the  Rocky  Mountains. 

Young  and  friendless,  she  appealed  to  Dr.  Park.  Much  older 
than  she,  he  took  a  fatherly  interest  in  her  and  looked  out  for  her 
until  she  reached  Salt  Lake  City.  There  she  secured  employ- 
ment as  a  domestic,  and  Dr.  Park  knew  little  more  about  her. 
She  became  desperately  ill  and  was  thought  to  be  dying. 

According  to  the  Mormon  doctrine,  in  which  she  implicitly 
believed,  her  chance  in  heaven  would  be  much  greater  if  she 
could  appear  at  the  judgment  seat  as  the  wife  of  a  man,  especially 
if  she  could  bring  with  her  children,  to  show  that  she  had  been 
mindful  of  the  commands,  "multiply  and  replenish  the  earth. '* 
She  felt  that  she  could  not  appear  with  children,  but  at  least  she 
could  be  sealed  to  some  man  for  eternity. 


AND    CRIMES    OF    MORMONISM.  561 

Dr.  Park  she  preferred.  He  was  sent  for  and  consented  to 
become  her  husband  for  eternity,  believing  fully  she  was  on  the 
verge  of  death.  He  stood  by  her  bedside  and  was  sealed  to  her 
by  Counsellor  Daniel  H.  Wells,  father  of  Heber  M.  Wells,  late 
Governor  of  Utah. 

Contrary  to  all  expectations,  Miss  Armitage  recovered.  She 
never  lived  with  Dr.  Park,  and  the  ceremony  was  currently  be- 
lieved to  apply,  as  it  purported,  only  to  eternity.  Miss  Armitage 
married  William  Hilton,  a  member  of  the  Salt  Lake  police  force, 
and  bore  him  several  children. 

Some  years  ago  Dr.  Park  died,  leaving  an  estate  valued  at 
$40,000,  which  he  bequeathed  to  the  University  of  Utah.  Then 
came  forward  Mrs.  Annie  Armitage  Park  Hilton,  and  declared 
that  she  was  the  widow  of  Dr.  Park  and  entitled  to  receive  her 
dower  rights. 

She  brought  suit  in  the  court.  The  defence  alleged,  and  cited 
Mormon  leaders  to  prove  it,  that  the  ceremony  of  sealing  was 
purely  religious,  did  not  constitute  a  legal  marriage,  and  would 
not  make  Mrs.  Hilton  the  widow  of  Dr.  Park.  The  District 
Court  took  this  view,  but  the  State  Supreme  Court  reversed  the 
decision  and  declared  that  a  celestial  marriage  constituted  a  legal 
union  on  this  earth. 

Interest  in  the  Smoot  inquiry  was  increased  when  prominent 
women  came  to  Washington  and  laid  plans  to  wage  a  more  effect- 
ive contest  against  the  Mormon  .Senator.  Among  these  women 
were  Mrs.  Frederick  Schoff,  of  Philadelphia,  chairman  of  the 
Executive  Committee  of  the  National  League  of  Women's  Organ- 
izations, and  Mrs.  Charles  A.  Thorp,  president  of  the  New  Cen- 
tury Club  of  Philadelphia. 

The  following  statement  was  issued  after  a  meeting  of  the 
women  : 

"At  a  meeting  of  the  Executive  Board  of  the  National  League 
of  Women's  Organizations  of  America,  a  resolution  was  unani- 
mously adopted,  requesting  that,  on  Sunday,  March  27,  or  as 
soon  thereafter  as  possible,  every  clergyman  in  the  United  States 
ask  every  man  to  write  to  his  Senators,  requesting  them,  in  view 
of  the  evidence  already  presented  in  the  case  of  Reed  Smoot,  to 
36 


562  POLYGAMY:  OR.  THE  MYSTERIES 

vote  against  the  retention  of  said  Reed  Smoot  in  the  highest  law- 
making  body  of  the  country." 

At  this  stage  of  the  investigation  a  leading  journal  thus 
summed  up  the  situation  : 

"  The  investigation  in  the  case  of  Reed  Smoot  makes  it  clear 
that  he  cannot  be  deprived  of  his  seat  in  the  United  States  Sen- 
ate on  the  charge  that  he  is  a  polygamist,  for  the  testimony  shows 
nothing  of  the  sort. 

"  He  cannot,  of  course,  be  expelled  or  unseated  because  he  is 
a  Mormon,  for  it  is  no  more  a  violation  of  the  law  to  be  a  Mor- 
mon than  it  is  to  be  a  Buddhist,  a  Mennonite  or  an  agnostic. 
That  is  settled  by  the  constitutional  guarantee  that  '  Congress 
shall  make  no  law  respecting  the  establishment  of  religion  or  pro- 
hibiting the  free  exercise  thereof. ' 

"  If  he  is  to  be  forced  out  of  the  Senate  it  will  have  to  be  one 
either  one  of  two  grounds.  Either  it  must  be  shown  that  he  is 
subject  in  the  Mormon  Church  to  an  authority  which  takes  pre- 
cedence of  his  oath  to  support  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States,  and  might  compel  him  to  act  in  violation  of  it,  or  else  it 
must  be  held  by  his  fellow-Senators  that  he  is  disqualified  to  sit 
with  them  because  of  the  evidence  that  as  one  of  the  '  twelve 
apostles '  he  has  acquiesced  in  the  direct  violation  of  law  by 
many  of  the  apostles  who  are  leading  polygamous  lives. 

"  The  Constitution  provides  that  each  house  of  Congress  shall 
be  the  judge  of  the  qualifications  of  its  own  members,  and 
authorities  hold  that  this  power  may  be  exercised  to  expel  or  unseat 
any  one  deemed  by  either  house  unfit  for  membership,  even 
though  his  offence  may  not  be  a  crime  in  the  eyes  of  the  law.  It 
appears  from  our  Washington  despatches  that  Senator  Smoot's 
opponents  have  decided  not  to  seek  an  expulsion,  which  would 
require  a  two-thirds  vote,  are  now  confining  themselves  to  an 
effort  to  unseat  him  on  the  ground  of  disqualification,  which 
could  be  effected  by  the  vote  of  a  majority. 

"It  is  a  rather  delicate  matter  to  define  and  restrict  the  extent 

,  to  which  any   organization,  religious  or  otherwise,  may  legally 

exert  its  influence  for  or  against  a  candidate  or  a  party,  and  if 

Mr.  Smoot's   opponents  are  numerous  euough  to  exclude   him 


AND    CRIMES    OP   MORMONISM.  563 

from  the  Senate  it  may  better  be  done  on  the  ground  of  his  coun- 
tenancing and  abetting  plural  cohabitation  by  his  colleagues 
among  the  '  twelve  apostles '  and  by  President  Smith,  who 
admitted  before  the  Senate  Committee  that  his  relations  with  his 
five  wives  were  contrary  to  the  laws  of  God  and  man.  What- 
ever may  be  the  effect  of  the  inquest  upon  Mr.  Smoot,  it  has 
opened  the  way  for  legal  prosecution  of  some  of  the  leading 
lights  of  Morinondom. 

"  Incidentally  the  investigation  excites  discussion  of  the  ques- 
tion :  What  does  Mormonism  minus  polygamy  amount  to  ?  One 
of  the  text  books  in  the  hands  of  missionaries  declares  that  c  the 
saints  have  deemed  polygamy  as  the  seed  and  glory  of  Mormon- 
ism.'  Deprived  of  its  'seed  and  glory'  by  the  pro  forma  pub- 
lished manifesto  of  the  church  that  the  practice  is  now  under  the 
ban  of  the  Lord,  it  will  need  only  vigorous  prosecution  of  such 
offenders  as  President  Smith  and  the  apostles  guilty  of  polyga- 
mous practices  to  discourage  recruiting  for  the  ranks  of  '  the 
Latter-day  Saints,'  and  insure  the  speedy  decay  of  the  institution. " 

And  this  from  another  journal,  furnishing  a  clear  expression 
of  public  opinion : 

"  Whatever  conclusion  the  Senate  may  reach  with  respect  to 
Smoot's  eligibility  to  membership  in  that  body,  it  has  been 
clearly  established  that  the  Mormon  hierarchy  has  pursued  and 
permitted  polygamous  practices  after  promising  to  abandon  them. 
A  mass  of  evidence  is  to  be  produced  to  show  that  plural  mar- 
riages have  taken  place  since  the  issuance  of  the  Mormon 
manifesto  of  1890  prohibiting  them.  The  faithlessness  of  the 
hierarchy  has  also  been  shown  by  its  violations  of  its  pledge  that 
if  Utah  were  admitted  into  the  Union  it  would  withdraw  from 
political  activity.  In  pursuance  of  these  pledges  and  promises 
Utah  was  admitted,  but  immediately  after  Utah  became  a  State 
Mormon  political  activity  was  conspicuously  in  evidence  in  the 
shaping  of  bills  passed  by  the  Legislature.  Measures  which 
received  the  disapproval  of  the  Legislative  Committee  of  -Mor- 
mon Elders  were  doomed. 

u  The  influence  of  the  Mormon  hierarchy  has  been  repeatedly 
exerted  in  the  election  of  officials,  notably  in  the  election  of 


564  POLYGAMY:  OR,  THE  MYSTERIES 

United  States  Senators.  Judge  Hiles,  who  served  five  years  as 
Judge  of  the  Third  District  of  Utah,  testified  on  Saturday  that 
whenever  the  Mormon  Church  indorses  a  candidate  he  is  elected. 
"It  is  an  organization  distinct  from  the  Government  of  the 
United  States  and  the  State  of  Utah,  and  it  exerts  an  influence 
in  the  enforcement  or  nonenforcement  of  laws.7  In  judicial 
examinations,  when  Mormons  were  asked  whether  they  would 
obey  the  Federal  laws  or  the  laws  of  the  Church,  they  would  say 
that  they  would  obey  the  laws  of  the  Church  first. 

"  The  political  power  of  the  Church  is  transferred  to  any 
party  which  is  able  to  add  to  the  strength  of  the  hierarchy  and 
to  give  it  immunity  in  the  courts  and  before  juries.  While 
Smoot  invokes  the  benefit  of  the  constitutional  clause  prohibiting 
the  application  of  a  religious  test  as  a  qualification  to  any  office 
or  public  trust  under  the  United  States,  the  Mormon  hierarchy 
invariably  applies  such  a  test  to  those  whom  it  supports  for 
United  States  Senator.  The  evidence  upon  this  point  appears 
clear  and  conclusive. 

"  Mr.  Smoot  would  not  have  been  elected  to  the  United  States 
Senate  if  he  had  not  received  the  endorsement  of  the  Church. 
The  main  point  of  attack  against  the  Mormon  theocracy  is  the 
practice  of  polygamy,  and  its  political  power  is,  therefore, 
wielded  to  protect  and  strengthen  this  tenet  of  its  faith.  Mor- 
monism,  by  its  rapid  natural  growth  under  the  plural  marriage 
system,  would  soon  secure  the  balance  of  political  power  in 
several  States  and  Territories.  Mr.  Smoot  is  the  direct  repre- 
sentative of  this  portentous  coalitian  between  Church  and  State." 

A  Mormon  Church  in  Brooklyn  differed  from  many  of  the 
pretentions  of  the  Mormon  Church  in  Salt  Lake  City  as  admin- 
istered by  President  Smith  and  the  Twelve  Apostles.  At  the 
opening  of  a  new  church,  Apostle  Sheehy,  after  declaring  that 
the  Smoot  investigation  in  Congress  would  result  in  educating 
the  public  to  the  difference  between  the  Mormon  Church  of  Utah, 
organized  by  Brigham  Young,  and  the  true  Church  of  the  Latter 
Day  Saints,  said  in  part : 

"  In  our  efforts  to  organize  the  Mormon  Church  on  the 
original  basis  on  which  it  was  founded  we  have  had  to  contend 


AND    CRIMES    OF    MORMONISM.  565 

with  the  very  elements  which  have  caused  so  much  discussion  of 
late  and  which  wrere  responsible  for  the  Smoot  inquiry.  When 
revelations  came  to  Joseph  Smith  in  1830,  and  the  Mormon 
Church  was  founded,  polygamy  was  wholly  absent  from  its  doc- 
trines. In  1844,  on  the  death  of  Smith,  when  the  Church  had 
grown  to  over  two  hundred  thousand  members,  immediately 
there  arose  dissensions.  Some  followed  James  J.  Strang  to 
Wisconsin,  some  Lyman  White  to  Pennsylvania  and  about 
twenty  thousand  went  with  Brigham  Young  to  Utah.  Those 
that  we  represent  remained  intact  as  organized  in  1830. 

u  Brigham  Young,  however,  revamped  the  whole  institution  of 
Mormonism,  so  that  it  became  as  different  in  soil,  root,  foliage 
and  fruit  from  that  founded  by  Joseph  Smith  as  it  could  possibly 
be.  The  lines  of  the  two  churches  were  absolutely  distinct. 
Never  could  have  grown  from  the  root  planted  by  Smith  the 
doctrines  of  polygamy  which  were  introduced  by  Brigham 
Young.  Every  person  who  followed  the  fortunes  of  Brigham 
Young  from  Nauvoo  had  to  be  rebaptized,  reconfirmed  and  reor- 
dained.  All  former  former  principles  were  annulled. 

"  In  declaring  himself  the  successor  of  Prophet  Smith  Brigham 
Young  committed  a  bold  and  a  bald  usurpation.  He  was  not 
appointed  successor  by  Smith,  and  according  to  the  Book  of 
Covenants  and  Doctrines  i  none  else  shall  be  appointed  to  this 
gift  except  through  him.' 

"  Polygamy  was  not  announced  until  after  the  death  of  Smith, 
and  in  the  original  Mormon  doctrine  polygamy  is  denounced  as 
a  crime.  Consequently  for  a  man  to  claim,  like  Apostle  Smith, 
to  teach  morals  and  to  stand  for  what  is  right,  and  yet  to  admit 
before  the  civilized  world  that  he  is  living  in  violation  of  the 
laws  of  God,  his  Church  and  the  United  States,  is  about  as 
inconsistent  a  position  as  any  one  could  possibly  take. 

"  '  Let  no  man  break  the  laws  of  the  land,  for  no  man  who» 
keeps  the  laws  of  God  need  break  the  laws  of  th.e  land,'  is  one  of 
the  precepts  of  the  Book  of  Mormon,  and  yet  Smith,  president  of 
his  Church,  openly  breaks  the  laws  of  his  land  and  his  Church. 

"The  two  churches  have  some  things  in  common,  but  the 
Utah  Church  does  not  go  by  the  Bible  in  the  practice  of  its 


566  POLYGAMY;  OR,  THE  MYSTERIES 

present  institutions.  In  addition  to  practising  polygamy  they 
have  discarded  the  divinity  of  Chirst  and  hold  to  the  belief  that 
Adam  was  the  God  of  the  people  and  came  into  the  Garden  of 
Eden  in  human  form  with  one  of  his  wives.  And  we  wonder,  in 
view  of  all  the  trouble  which  Eve  as  one  wife  has  brought  upon 
this  world,  what  would  have  happened  if  Adam  had  brought 
them  all  along. 

••Apostle  Smith  is  distinctly  the  product  of  the  Utah  Mormons, 
and  not  of  Joseph  Smith,  the  first  prophet.  It  is  claimed  that 
the  latter  had  a  private  revelation  establishing  polygamy,  but  if 
he  did,  it  was  in  violation  of  the  laws  of  God,  of  the  land,  and  of 
his  own  church,  and  he  was  a  hypocrite.  We  claim,  however, 
that  Smith  never  had  such  a  revelation.  It  was  not  sprung  until 
after  Smith's  death.  Brigham  Young  announced  that  Smith  had 
confided  the  revelation  to  him,  and  that  he  had  it  in  his  posses- 
sion in  writing.  Young  was  never  able  to  produce  it,  however, 
and  there  was  never  any  proof  to  confirm  its  existence. 

**We  haven't  anything  to  say  as  to  whether  Reed  Smoot  should 
obtain  his  seat  in  Congress,  but  our  church  will  support  Congress 
in  the  passage  of  laws  abolishing  polygamy  forever,  and  for  the 
punishment  of  men  such  as  Smith  for  their  criminal  practices." 

The  sentiment  of  the  American  pulpit  was  well  represented 
by  Rev.  Dr.  Dana,  of  Philadelphia,  in  one  of  his  sermons : 

u  In  seeking  converts  the  Mormon  apostles  never  mention 
polygamy,  but  the  Church  of  Jesus  Christ.  Mormonism  is 
legalized  under  the  garb  of  religion.  The  leaders  knowing  it  is 
contrary  to  the  law  of  God,  contrary  to  the  law  of  the  land, 
announce  that  they  are  willing  to  take  risks. 

u  Would  it  be  right  to  let  one  enter  the  highest  legislative  body 
of  the  country — one  coming  from  this  source  ? 

"  This  is  a  great  political  organization  that,  under  the  garb  of 
religion,  is  hostile  to  our  government  and  to  everything  we  hold 
dear.  It  is  an  aggressive  organization,  which,  by  the  means  of 
boycott  and  many  means,  tries  to  make  life  miserable  for  those 
who  will  not  agree  with  its  views. 

"  It  will  proceed  even  to  murder.  Under  the  law  of  '  blood 
atonement,'  Mormons  consider  it  right  to  kill. 


AND    CRIMES    OF    MORMONISM.  567 

"  Suppose  I  were  a  Mormon  apostle,  and  you  constituted  a 
Mormon  congregation.  It  would  not  be,  '  Do  you  want  to  come 
to  church  ?'  but  '  You  must  come. '  It  would  not  be,  <  How 
much  do  you  wish  to  contribute  to  the  support  of  the  church  ? ' 
It  is,  '  Come  forward,  and  pay  one-tenth  of  every  cent  you  earn.' 

**  I  could  not  say  to  any  dozen  young  men  :  '  Leave  your  posi- 
tions and  go  forth  as  apostles  to  propagate  the  faith.'  I  could  say 
to  any  twenty  families  :  <  Leave  your  home  and  your  friends  and 
go  into  a  strange  place  to  help  build  up  a  Mormon  colony/ 

"  I  rejoice  with  you  that  you  do  not  live  under  any  such 
depotism  as  that.  Go  to  your  United  States  Senators  and  let 
them  know  how  you  feel  on  this  subject.  Go  to  your  political 
friends.  Let  politicians  and  statesman  join  hands  against  these 
evils  which  beset  ourselves,  our  families  and  our  country's  fair 
name.'' 


REV.  J.  WESLEY  HILL,  D.  D.,  CONDEMNS  MORMONISM. 

A  System    of  Falsehood,    Treachery    and    Deceit— Congress 

Should  Make  Polygamy  a  Crime  Against  the  Nation 

and  Then  Mor monism  Would  Fall. 

"  In  harmony  with  its  origin,  every  page  of  Mormon  history 
is  written  over  with  falsehood,  treachery  and  deceit/'  declared 
Rev.  J.  Wesley  Hill,  pastor  of  Grace  M.  E.  Church,  to  his  con- 
gregation in  the  course  of  a  sermon  on  Mormonism  vs.  Ameri- 
canism. 

Dr.  Hill  resided  five  years  in  Utah.  The  representatives  of 
the  priesthood  go  to  England,  Scotland,  Norway,  Denmark, 
Russia,  France,  Germany  and  Sweden.  They  pretend  to  love 
and  obey  this  Bible,  cherish  the  truths  of  the  Gospel,  and  to 
honor  and  adore  the  Saviour.  They  preach  these  things  and 
declare,  a  '  This  is  Mormonism.' 

" '  Let  us  go  to  Utah,  that  resort  which  we  have  made  to 
blossom  as  the  rose,  where  the  Saints  in  white  are  separated  from 
ungodly  Babylon,  and  where  the  true  Gospel  is  found  in  all  its 
purity. ' 

"  No  wonder  that  thousands  are  caught  in  the  Mormon  trap. 


568  POLYGAMY:  OR,  THE  MYSTERIES 

Deceived  by  sugar-coated  promises,  and  duped  by  glaring  mis- 
representation, they  fly  from  their  poverty  to  find  themselves  in 
a  stupendous  swindle. 

"  These  incautious  people  '  gather,'  and,  when  they  are  there, 
with  no  prospect  of  escape  till  death  shall  loosen  their  chains, 
what  do  the  priesthood  do  ? 

'*  They  fling  this  Bible  into  a  corner  and  substitute  for  it 
Spaulding's  Manuscript  Found,  or  the  Book  of  Mormon.  They 
substitute  Joseph  Smith  for  Jesus  Christ.  They  lock  the  door 
of  the  Gospel  and  compel  the  people  to  seek  their  salvation  by 
wading  through  the  moral  sewerage  and  '  damnable  heresies '  of 
the  Endowment  House. 

"  Think  of  it !  Through  this  Mormon  channel  there  is  a 
steady  influx  upon  us  of  foreigners — low,  base  born  and  in  many 
instances,  hereditary  bondsmen  ! 

"  They  come  as  recruits  to  a  so-called  church,  which  denies  the 
legality  of  human  government,  jabbers  about  a  '  celestial  king- 
dom,1 resists  national  authority,  violates  the  sanctity  of  the 
American  home,  and  educates  its  devotees  in  treasonable  hostility 
to  the  American  flag ! 

"  Mormonism  is  a  system  of  the  blackest  ignorance  and  super- 
stition. Notwithstanding  the  church  has  been  in  control  for 
nearly  sixty  years.  Utah  is  one  of  the  most  illiterate  spots  on 
the  map  of  the  nation. 

"It  is  a  system  of  vindictiveness,  cruelty  and  murder.  The 
Mountain  Meadows  massacre  is  a  bloody  page  which  will  forever 
stain  its  history. 

"  Mormonism  is  an  embodiment  of  the  Turkish  harem  and  as 
such  is  a  system  of  harlotry  built  upon  polygamy.  That  this 
vile  doctrine  of  polygamy  is  practiced  at  the  present  time  has 
been  demonstrated  during  the  recent  Smoot  investigation, 

"  There  is  but  one  remedy  for  this  unspeakable  degradation. 
Utah  will  not  enforce  the  laws  against  polygamy  because  the 
laws  are  in  the  hands  of  polygamists ;  but  the  time  has  come  for 
an  amendment  to  the  National  Constitution,  making  polygamy  a 
felony  wherever  practiced  under  the  Stars  and  Stripes.  Then  it 
will  be  a  crime  against  the  nation  and  its  punishment  will  be  so 


AND    CRIMES    OF    MORMONISM.  569 

swift  and  severe  that  America  will  no  longer  be  the  ground  upon 
which  Mormonism  practices  its  typical  abomination ! '' 


YOUNG  MORMONS  NOW  AG-AINST  POLYGAMY. 

A  large  number  of  the  younger  Mormons  in  Utah,  disgusted 
by  the  odious  light  in  which  the  organization  to  which  they 
belong  has  been  placed  by  the  recent  disclosures  at  Washington, 
are  uniting  in  an  aggressive  movement  against  polygamous  prac- 
tices. Reports  assert  that  these  revolters,  who  are  described  as 
numbering  in  their  ranks  many  of  the  most  enterprising  young 
men  in  the  State,  are  resolved  to  insist  that  their  church  authori- 
ties shall  hereafter  keep  within  the  limits  of  the  law  and 
threatened  to  secede  from  the  Mormon  sect  unless  this  is  done. 

It  would  not  prove  surprising  if  such  a  policy  should  be  wit- 
nessed on  the  part  of  a  considerable  faction  of  the  Mormon  pop- 
ulation which  has  grown  into  manhood  since  the  passage  of  the 
Edmunds  act.  Utah  is  no  longer  a  semi-isolated  community. 
It  has  a  large  non-Mormon  population.  It  is  prosperous  indus- 
trially, and  it  feels  the  currents  of  American  progress  to  an  ex- 
tent which  did  not  exist  even  half  a  generation  ago. 

Young  men  born  in  the  Mormon  Church,  who  read  the  news- 
papers, and  associate  daily  with  persons  who  are  not  Mormons, 
must  realize  the  contempt  and  detestation  with  which  the  great 
body  of  American  people  regard  the  pretended  "  revelations  ' ' 
authorizing  plural  marriage. 

The  percentage  of  residents  in  Utah  who  are  polygamists  is  at 
most  a  very  small  one  and  appearances  indicate  that  compara- 
tively few  plural  marriages  have  been  contracted  iu  the  last  dozen 
years.  If  the  younger  generation  sets  its  face  resolutely  against 
the  secret  spread  of  this  practice,  its  action  may  have  a  decisive 
effect,  since  the  remnant  of  polygamists  is  chiefly  composed  of 
aged  men,  who,  in  the  natural  order  of  things,  must  soon  pass 
from  the  stage. 


570  POLYGAMY;  OR,  THE  MYSTERIES 


CHAPTER  XXVI. 

STORY     OF     A     WOMAN    WHO    RELATES    HER    DISGUSTING    EXPER- 
IENCES  WHEN    SHE   WAS   INITIATED    INTO   THE    SECRET 
RITES    AND    MYSTERIES   OF   MORMONISM    IN 
THE    ENDOWMENT    HOUSE. 

BY  early  winter,  the  "  upper  rooms  "  of  the  Temple,  set  apart 
for  the  mysteries  of  the  Endowments  were  finished,  and  the 
persons  in  the  different  quorums  accounted  worthy,  were  sent  for, 
to  receive  the  "  fullness  of  that  blessing.'' 

None  but  those  of  approved  integrity,  and  of  undoubted  ortho- 
doxy, who  have  paid  their  u tithing, "  can  travel  this  "Mormon 
road  to  Heaven,''  as  it  is  called.  This  "  tithing,"  in  its  fullest 
sense,  implies  a  tenth  of  all  one's  property  and  income,  and  one- 
tenth  of  the  time  to  be  spent  in  labor  on  the  public  works,  or 
money  to  hire  a  substitute. 

There  are  many  things  about  these  initiations  which  could  not 
be  understood  except  as  religious  mysteries.  I  believed  they  were 
true — when  I  knew  no  other  religion.  Indeed,  my  whole  know- 
ledge of  religion,  until  within  a  few  years,  has  been  associated 
with  these  ceremonies,  as  opening  the  only  road  to  heaven.  They 
have  taught  me  to  believe  my  chief  duties  as  a  woman,  in  this 
life,  consisted  in  having  a  great  many  children  ;  and  my  prospect 
for  happiness  and  "  exaltation  "  in  the  next  world,  to  be  greatly 
enhanced,  by  being  one  of  many  fruitful  wives  of  one  man  ;  and 
that  even  my  salvation  depended  upon  the  pleasure  of  the  Pro- 
phet, or  on  that  of  a  spiritual  husband,  and  I  had  never  heard 
of  that  beautiful  story  of  a  free  salvation  through  Christ,  of 
which  I  am  now  anxious  to  know  more. 

I  have  disclosed  all  things  in  the  Mormon  ceremonies  that  will 
interest  the  reader,  avoiding  such  as,  while  they  would  only  gratify 
the  morbid  curiosity  of  some  readers,  would  offend  the  good  taste 
of  others.  I  am  free  to  acknowledge,  that  I  had  some  difficulty 
in  settling  with  my  conscience  the  exact  point  at  which  my  dis- 


AND    CRIMES   OF   MORMONISM.  571 

closures  should  end;  but  the  difficulty  has  been  lessened  by 
the  advice  kindly  given  me  by  several  distinguished  ministers  of 
the  Gospel,  that  I  ought  to  feel  myself  at  liberty  to  make  an 
unreserved  disclosure  of  the  whole  matter. 

My  husband,  who  was  a  member  of  the  fourth  "  Quorum  of 
Seventies,''  and  myself,  were  called  to  the  Temple  to  receive  our 
"  Endowments.' ' 

We  ascended  the  first  stair,  at  the  head  of  which  Brigham 
Young  met  us.  He  took  me  by  both  hands,  and  led  me  to  a  door 
at  the  left,  and  whispering  in  my  ear  a  pass-word,  left  me  to  go 
in,  and  afterwards  did  the  same  with  my  husband,  who  was 
directed  to  enter  a  door  at  the  right. ' 

The  room  I  had  entered  was  nearly  filled  with  women:  no 
men  were  in  this  room ;  and  no  women  were  in  the  room  at  the 
right,  where  Wallace,  my  husband,  had  entered.  Here  we  were 
undressed  and  washed  in  a  large  tub  of  warm  water,  by  a  woman 
who  is  "  ordained  "  to  that  office,  and  then  anointed  with  "  con- 
secrated oil,"  by  another  woman,  also  "  ordained "  for  that 
particular  duty. 

Two  high  priests  were  in  an  adjoining  room,  consecrating  this 
oil,  and  handing  the  same  into  both  rooms  as  it  was  needed, 
which  was  poured  from  a  horn  over  our  heads,  and  a  lengthy 
prayer  was  then  said  over  us.  Every  part  of  the  body  being  in 
turn  the  special  subject  of  this  prayer,  that  we  might  become  as 
little  children,  even  as  Adam  and  Eve  were  when  placed  in  the 
Garden  of  Eden,  and  many  other  matters  of  a  similar  bearing, 
all  of  which  I  cannot  now  recollect,  although  I  witnessed  the 
ceremony  many  times  afterwards. 

We  were  then  dressed  with  a  white  night-gown  and  skirt,  and 
shoes  of  bleached  drilling,  and  with  our  hair  loose  and  dripping 
with  consecrated  oil,  each  received  a  new  name,  and  were 
instructed  that  we  were  never  to  pronounce  this  name  on  earth 
but  once:  and  that,  when  we  came  to  enter  within  the  "  Veil,'' 
hereafter  described. 

The  same  process  is  gone  through  within  the  men's  washing- 
room,  except  that  they  wore  nothing  but  shirt  and  drawers,  and 
when  all  was  ready  in  both  rooms,  each  party  was  piloted  by 


572  POLYGAMY;  OR,  THE  MYSTERIES 

one  of  their  own  sex  into  a  common  room,  fitted  up  to  represent, 
and  called  the  Garden  of  Eden.  On  this  occasion  there  were 
about  twenty  persons  of  each  sex.  The  room  into  which  we 
were  taken  was  very  large,  the  walls  were  hung  with  white 
muslin,  and  it  was  fitted  up  with  boxes,  containing  a  great  variety 
of  trees,  designed  to  represent  the  Garden  of  Eden.  All  the  trees 
were  in  leaf,  and  presented  a  very  fine  appearance,  and  we  were 
marched  round  the  room  among  them  in  slow  and  solemn  pro- 
cession. 

It  is  required  that  each  candidate  be  perfectly  clean  in  dress 
and  person,  and  a  filthy  thing  is  here  regarded  an  abomination. 

The  first  thing  we  saw  in  the  center  of  the  "  Garden ''  was 
the  "devil,"  dressed  in  black  muslin,  in  conversation  with 
"  Eve,"  the  latter  being  tempted  to  partake  of  the  forbidden 
"  fruit, ''  to  which  she  finally  yielded.  Eve  then  went  to  Adam, 
with  an  offer  of  the  "fruit,"  who,  after  much  resistance  "he 
likewise  fell;  "  whereupon  the  "Lord ''  came  into  the  " Garden,'' 
with  a  glittering  white  robe,  bespangled  with  every  kind  of 
brilliants  that  could  send  back  a  flash  of  light,  from  whose  face 
Adam,  and  Eve,  and  the  "  Tempter  ''  fled  away  hiding  among 
the  trees ;  but  finally  the  first  two  confessed  their  "  crime,"  and 
the  "  Lord  "  pronounced  a  curse  upon  them  and  upon  their  race, 
copied  from  Genesis,  and  the  devil  crawled  out  of  sight  upon  his 
face.  The  Lord  then  put  aprons  upon  Adam  and  Eve,  and  upon 
us  all,  made  of  white  linen,  illustrated  by  means  of  green  silk, 
to  represent  fig-leaves.  We  were  then  led  out  again,  each  to  our 
respective  rooms,  and  thus  ended  the  "  first  glory." 

I  deem  it  proper,  and  a  duty  I  owe  to  my  sex,  to  hand  down 
to  infamy  the  names  of  the  women  I  have  seen  not  only  then, 
but  since,  represent  "JEve"  in  the  "Garden  of  Eden,"  the 
more  so,  because  the  persons  whose  names  I  am  about  to  men- 
tion appear  to  have  performed  it  willingly  and  with  "pleasured 

Eliza  Snow,  who  was  one  of  the  wives  of  the  Prophet  Joseph, 
and  now  a  wife  of  Brigham  Young  "for  time,''  as  it  is  termed, 
which  means  she  will  be  Joseph's  wife  again  in  heaven,  performed 
this  part  more  than  any  other  woman.  Now,  at  fifty  years  of 
age,  she  is  even  yet  very  beautiful,  and  she  may  be  said  to  per- 


AND    CRIMES    OF    MORMONISM.  573 

form  infamously  well.  I  have  often  seen  Mrs.  Buel,  mentioned 
heretofore,  do  the  same.  She  is  the  woman  whose  husband 
lived  at  Lima,  111.,  when  Joseph  seduced  her  from  him.  I  have 
also  seen  Mrs.  Knowlton  in  the  same  capacity.  She  is  the 
mother  of  my  Brother  Howard's  wife,  Martha. 

Martha  is  a  good  and  pure  woman,  and  will  not  submit  to  the 
double  wife  practice,  although  she  is  forced  to  acknowledge,  in 
common  with  all  Mormon  women,  that  it  is  right  in  principle, 
each  week  when  she  is  questioned,  as  they  all  are,  by  the 
"  teachers.''  When  my  brother  Howard  one  time  brought  home 
another  wife,  Martha  fought  her  out  of  the  house,  and  he  was 
forced  to  console  himself  with  one.  But  when  I  left  Salt  Lake, 
he  was  courting  two  sisters,  whom  he  intended  to  take  home, 
thinking  they  would  together  be  able  to  hold  the  balance  of  power 
in  Martha's  household.  I  presume  she  will  in  the  end  submit,  as 
that  is  sure  to  be  the  fate  of  Mormon  women. 

"  Satan  "  is  generally  represented  by  Judge  Phelps,  for  whom 
I  have  no  words  sufficiently  hateful.  Levi  Hancock  also  often 
performed  the  same.  And  "Adam  ''  by  Orson  Hyde  and  Parley 
P.  Pratt.  I  have  no  doubt  but  these  characters  have  been  repre- 
sented by  others,  but  these  are  the  persons  who  generally  do  it. 
The  whole  room  was  hung  with  white  cloth,  and  behind  one  side 
of  the  "  Garden  of  Eden  "  there  was  no  wall  but  the  curtain, 
with  an  arrangement  of  "  peep-holes,"  where  Mormons  who  have 
before  taken  their  Endowments  may  witness  it  again.  Brigham 
Young  was  in  the  practice  of  sending  for  various  ones  among  the 
women  to  that  room,  where  he  examined  them  as  to  their  pass- 
words and  grips,  and  forced  them  to  witness  again  the  a  tempta- 
tion." 

The  character  of  the  "  Lord ''  was  always  represented  by 
"  Brother  Brigham,''  if  he  could  possibly  be  there — if  not  he 
deputized  some  one;  but  Brigham  never  played  the  "Devil,''  or 
"Adam  "  on  these  occasions. 

I  think  I  need  not  inform  my  readers  how  heartily  the  women 
mentioned  as  t(Eves"  at  these  infernal  rites  were  in  secret 
despised  and  hated  by  the  great  mass  of  the  Mormon  women  : 
especially  Eliza  Snow.  Though  forced  to  treat  them  well  in 


574  POLYGAMY;  OR,  THE  MYSTERIES 

society  there,  I  take  pleasure  in  letting  them  know  the  opinion 
that  obtained  among  their  own  sex,  and  which  would  have  found 
an  expression  of  universal  disgust  from  those  of  their  associates, 
if  it  were  not  crushed  into  silence  by  the  overshadowing  power  of 
the  Prophet. 

We  were  now  undressed  again,  and  each  put  on  the  "  gox- 
mrnt^  which  is  so  arranged  as  to  form  a  whole  suit  at  once; 
and  the  "robe,"  which  is  a  strip  of  white  muslin,  say  three- 
fourths  of  a  yard  wide,  and  long  enough  to  reach  to  the  feet, 
gathered  in  the  middle,  and  tied  by  a  bow,  to  the  left  shoulder, 
and  brought  across  the  body,  and  the  edges  fastened  together  on 
the  right  side,  with  a  belt  around  the  waist  of  the  same.  Over 
this  was  put  the  apron  we  had  received  in  the  "first  glory;" 
and  the  women  wore  what  is  called  a  veil  made  of  a  large  piece 
of  book  muslin,  reaching  nearly  to  the  floor,  and  gathered  up  at 
one  corner  to  fit  the  head.  The  men  wore  a  kind  of  turban, 
made  of  the  same  material,  otherwise  men  and  women  were 
dressed  alike.  Thus  disguised,  it  was  quite  impossible  for  us  to 
recognize  each  other. 

We  were  next  led  into  what  is  called  the  Terrestrial  Glory 
where  Brigham  Young  received  us,  and  after  a  long  effort  to 
explain  the  disgusting  scene  in  the  "  Garden,''  as  necessary  to 
our  future  exaltation,  he  gave  each  a  pass-word  and  grip 
necessary,  he  said,  to  admit  us  into  the  "  Celestial  Glory ;  '* 
where  our  (i.  e.  Mormon)  "god'*  dwells.  Some  say  this  is 
Adam  ;  and  some  that  Joe  Smith  is  to  be  our  "god  "  and  after- 
wards, Brigham  Young  intimated,  that  he  (Brigham),  was  the 
medium  of  our  salvation,  and  that  Joseph  was  his  "  god. ''  They 
do  not  all  agree  upon  this  point ;  but  they  do  agree  upon  another 
thing,  and  that  is :  that  there  are  many  gods,  and  they  do  not 
acknowledge  the  one  Triune  God  of  the  Bible,  but  that  every 
i/i >in  will  sometimes  be  a  "  god  ;  "  and  that  women  are  to  be  the 
ornaments  of  his  kingdom,  and  dependent  upon  him  for  resurrec- 
tion and  salvation ;  and  that  our  salvation  is  dependent  upon 
the  recollection  of  these  pass-words;  that  when  we  get  to 
Heaven,  these  pass-words  will  open  the  door  to  us  if  we  can 
recollect  them ;  but  even  then,  Brigham's  permission  is  necessary 


AND    CRIMES    OF    MORMONISM.  575 

before  the  women  can  enter.     The  absolute  truth  of  which  theory 
I  have  never  doubted  until  within  a  few  years. 

From  this  we  pass,  after  being  armed  with  the  pass-words  and 
grips,  to  another  room,  where  is  an  altar,  before  which,  if  any 
wish,  they  are  "sealed" — that  is  married.  The  name  of  this  I 
do  not  recollect,  but  it  is  the  third  "  Glory."  We  arrived 
finally,  where  a  veil  separated  us  from  the  "  Celestial  Glory." 
A  man  behind  the  veil  examined  us,  as  to  the  pass-words  and 
grips  Brigham  had  given  us,  and  to  whom  we  gave  our  "  new 
name,"  received  at  the  first  anointing.  Holes  through  the  veil 
enabled  him  to  see  us  when  we  could  not  see  him,  and  also,  to 
cut  with  a  small  pair  of  scissors,  certain  marks,  beside  others, 
the  Masonic  square  and  compass,  upon  the  right  and  left  breast 
of  our  "garments,''  and  upon  the  right  knee,  a  gash,  deep 
enough  to  make  a  scar,  by  which  we  were  to  be  recognized  as 
Mormons.  This  gash  upon  the  right  knee  is  now  often  omitted, 
because  many  of  women  object  to  it.  We  were  then  admitted 
into  the  "  Celestial  Glory,''  where,  seated  upon  a  throne,  in 
great  state,  was  a  person  representing  "our  god."  This  was  a 
gorgeously  furnished  room,  illustrating  by  earthly  signs  a 
heavenly  glory.  This  ends  the  first  "anointing.'' 

The  time  occupied  in  this  initiation  is  about  ten  hours.  Two 
days  in  the  week  are  set  apart  for  this  purpose,  and  sometimes 
group  after  group  succeeds  each  other,  and  the  initiation  is  con- 
tinued all  day,  and  not  unfrequently  long  after  midnight. 

Arrived  at  this  point,  the  candidate  is  prepared  to  proceed  to 
the  "second  anointing."  This  I  have  never  received,  and  for 
various  reasons,  not  the  least  of  which  was  that  very  few  had 
received  this  at  that  time.  I  also  heard  it  hinted  that  the  "  sec- 
ond anointing  "  was  administered  without  clothing  of  any  kind ; 
and  moreover,  as  it  will  be  seen  hereafter,  I  had  reason  to  doubt 
somewhat,  though  not  entirely  to  discard  Mormonism. 

It  was  a  noticeable  feature  that  the  outside  show  of  some  of  the 
regalia  and  furniture  connected  with  these  "  Endowments " 
were  made  to  conform  to  those  of  Masonry ;  and  Mormons  are 
anxious  to  have  the  "  Gentiles  "  associate  all  they  know  of  these 
beastly  "  Endowments  "  with  Masonry,  or  as  being  a  modified 


576  POLYGAMY;  OR,  THE  MYSTERIES 

form  of  it  made  eligible  to  women,  as  a  blind  to  cover  the  real 
objects  of  this  "  Institution;  ''  and  I  have  noticed  in  the  public 
prints,  since  my  arrival  in  the  States,  that  this  was  the  opinion 
entertained  among  those  u  Gentiles  "  supposed  to  be  best  in- 
formed upon  this  subject.  But  this  is  but  a  mere  blind,  and  the 
real  object  of  these  mystic  forms  is  in  no  way  connected  with  or 
borrowed  from  Masonry.  Now,  in  conclusion  of  my  disclosures 
upon  this  part  of  my  subject,  associated  as  it  is  with  hateful 
memories  of  that  peculiar  kind  most  distasteful  to  the  recollection 
of  a  pure  woman,  I  deem  it  my  duty  to  state  that  the  "  moral " 

and  object  of  the  whole  is  socially  to  unsex  the  sexes ; 

and  when  I  call  the  attention  of  the  reader  to  the  fact  that  while 
I  have  described  the  dress  of  all  the  parties  to  this  inhuman  dis- 
play and  ocular  demonstration,  I  have  not  mentioned  the  dress  of 
"Adam  and  Eve"  nor  the  nature  of  the  "  FRUIT"  by  which 
each  was  in  turn  tempted ;  I  think  he  will  admit  that  while  I 
have  said  enough,  I  have  also  left  more  unsaid  than  the  imagina- 
tion, held  with  the  loosest  possible  rein,  would  be  likely  to  pic- 
ture ;  and  I  have  only  to  add,  that  the  reality  is  too  monstrous 
for  human  belief.  And  in  view  of  the  above  facts,  penned 
under  emotions  too  deep  for  tears  ;  facts  the  truth  of  which  not 
only  myself,  but  thousands  of  outraged  women  in  Utah,  would, 
if  once  freed  from  the  fear  of  actual  death,  substantiate  by  their 
oaths ;  the  truth  of  which  I  should  attest  by  my  blood,  if  within 
reach  of  Mormon  assassination,  may  I  not  be  permitted  to  appeal 
to  the  Christian  mothers  of  the  world,  in  behalf  of  those  women, 
now  shut  up  at  Salt  Lake,  and  in  behalf  of  their  daughters,  just 
budding  by  flocks  and  whole  broods  into  the  new  existence  of 
womanhood,  to  be  prostituted  under  such  a  system  ? 

Will  the  mothers  of  this  Christian  land  not  put  forth  an 
effort  to  save  them?  Above  all,  will  not  this  great  people, 
through  its  government,  interpose  the  strong  arm  of  the  public 
law ;  backed,  as  it  must  be,  by  armed  men,  to  open  the  doors 
to  more  than  forty  thousand  women  imprisoned,  for  the 
crime  of  being  women ;  and  for  the  purpose,  now  not  disguised, 
of  raising  up,  in  the  shortest  possible  space  of  time,  a  race  of 
swift,  and  armed  witnesses  to  defend  and  propagate  this  new 


AND    CRIMES    OF    MORMONISM.  577 

faith — a  faith  resting  upon  no  better  foundation  than  the  mere 
dictum  of  a  pretended  Prophet,  whose  dying  words  proved  his 
disbelief  in  a  God,*  and  which  faith  is  to-day  undisputed  by 
more  than  half  a  million  followers  ? 

I  shall  never  forget  the  feelings  with  which  I  left  the  Endow- 
ment rooms,  on  this  occasion.  I  went  immediately  to  my  mother, 
who,  it  appeared,  had  just  made  the  same  discovery ;  and  was 
making  an  effort  to  reconcile  such  practices  with  her  belief  in 
Mormonism.  She  recounted  to  me  with  mournful  earnestness, 
the  miraculous  cure  of  her  deafness,  and  mentioned  a  circum- 
stance which  had  occurred  just  before  the  Prophet's  death. 

It  appears  the  Prophet  Joseph  had  one  day  broken  the  leg 
of  my  brother  Howard,  while  wrestling.  They  were  always 
together,  and  were  both  fond  of  that  sport,  and  on  this  occasion  they 
had  wrestled  with  uncommon  enthusiasm,  when,  by  an  unlucky 
pass,  Howard  fell  with  a  broken  leg.  It  was  immediately  set  by  the 
"Prophet,"  with  the  assistance  of  one  of  his  wives,  with  but 
little  pain,  as  Howard  alleged.  It  was  then  anointed  with  con- 
secrated oil,  and  was  well  in  so  short  a  time,  that  it  had  at  least 
the  appearance  of  a  miracle. 

With  all  these  astonishing  evidences  before  us,  how  could  we 
doubt  Mormonism.  These  facts  were  known  to  us,  and  an  account 
of  many  ether  similar  cases  were  circulated,  and  believed  among 
us.  How  could  we  accept  the  Prophet  in  one  particular,  and 
reject  him  in  another.  I  often  hear  persons  express  aston- 
ishment that  people  can  be  deluded  so  easily.  If  they  knew 
human  nature  better,  they  would  recollect,  that  to  believe  what 
the  best  evidence  at  our  command  clearly  teaches,  affords  the 
highest  proof  of  good  faith.  In  this  case  my  mother  was  unac- 
customed to  reason,  and  I  was  less  than  twenty  years  of  age. 
The  influence  of  the  public  opinion  with  which  we  were  surrounded 
was  all  one  way.  The  facts  were  admitted,  and  we  saw  no 
escape.  Mormonism  was  true ;  and,  if  so,  that  was  the  end  of  the 
argument. 


*  The  last  words  of  Joseph  Smith  were,  "  My  Lord,  My  God,  have  mercy 
upon  us,  if  there  is  a  God." 

37 


f>78  POLYGAMY;  OR,  THE  MYSTERIES 


CHAPTER  XXVII. 

THRILLING     EXPERIENCES     OF      A     WOMAN     WHO      WENT      FROM 
NAUVOO,     ILL.,    TO     UTAH     WITH    THE     MORMONS    AND   RE- 
MAINED   THERE    MANY  YEARS   WHILE   BRIGHAM  YOUNG 
WAS    PRESIDENT — NARROW    ESCAPE    FROM    BECOM- 
ING   A    "  SPIRITUAL   WIFE." 

Once  at  the  end  of  our  tedious  journey  over  the  plains,  and 
safely  reunited  with  my  family,  and,  above  all,  in  my  own 
mother's  house,  I  was  happy  again.  My  mother  had  bought  a 
house  and  lot  in  a  pleasant  part  of  the  city,  and  was  already 
settled,  with  Lizzie  and  Uriah  with  her.  She  had  an  acre  and 
a  quarter  of  ground,  the  size  of  all  the  city  lots  designed  for 
dwellings.  My  brother  Howard  was  also  there  with  his  family, 
so  we  were  all  settled  near  each  other.  My  brother  William's 
wife  was  also  there.  It  will  be  recollected  that  William  had 
joined  the  Mormon  battalion  for  the  Mexican  War,  and  we  had 
just  received  intelligence  of  his  death.  All  our  family  that  were 
Mormons,  and  yet  living,  were  now  at  Salt  Lake  City,  and  I  was 
more  disposed,  and  apparently  had  it  more  in  my  power  than 
ever  before,  to  settle  down  contentedly  and  lead  a  quiet  life. 

Thus  far  my  life  had  been  troubled  and  stormy,  and  if  I  did 
not  find  myself  disappointed  in  my  expectations  as  to  what 
I  still  supposed  Mormonism  to  be,  I  saw  no  reason  why  my 
tempest-tossed  bark  should  not  rest  secure  in  the  calm  haven 
of  our  new  Zion.  Yet  all  depended  upon  what  the  Prophet  had  to 
say  to  the  wrong  I  had  suffered.  If  he  justified  all  the  Mormons 
had  done  in  his  absence,  and  if  he  approved  of  their  crimes,  and 
that  was  Mormonism,  then  I  was  not  a  Mormon,  and  I  should 
regret  having  left  the  States.  But  I  was  soon  to  know. 

My  brother  Howard,  now  a  High  Priest,  was  one  of  the 
Prophet's  secretaries,  and  one  day  I  went  to  the  office  to  see  him, 
and  while  there  the  Prophet  came  and  recognized  me,  although 
we  had  not  met  since  the  cold  and  dreary  march  through 


AND    CRIMES    OF    MORMONISM.  579 

Iowa,  at  which  time  we  were  in  the  same  company  with  him  for  a 
few  days. 

The  Prophet,  who  is  acknowledged  to  be  one  of  the  finest 
looking  men  in  the  Church,  and  possessed  of  a  remarkably  easy 
and  winning  address,  received  me  very  cordially,  and  said, 
"  Well,  Nettie,  how  do  you  like  Mormonism  by  this  time  ?  "  I 
replied  to  him  at  some  length,  that  if  Mormonism  was  the  same 
at  Salt  Lake  that  it  was  in  the  States,  I  did  not  think  I  was  a 
Mormon.  I  told  him  the  whole  story  as  to  Wallace,  my  husband, 
and  how  he  had  treated  me.  I  felt  the  utmost  freedom  in  un- 
burthening  my  heart's  secret  to  him  even  as  to  a  parent.  I 
referred  to  the  hardship  and  crime  of  the  double  wife  doctrine, 
and  to  the  crimes  of  the  Heads  of  Church,  and  the  "  Danites." 

He  listened  with  great  patience  and  kindness  of  manner,  and 
I  waited  his  reply  with  untold  interest.  My  faith  in  Mormonism 
hung  upon  his  reply.  He  evidently  understood  the  difficulty  of 
my  case,  for  at  times  he  looked  troubled  and  anxious.  When  he 
replied,  he  made  no  mention  of  any  matters  but  those  which  per- 
sonally interested  me.  He  said,  "  I  will  tell  you,  Nett,  how  it 
is.  There  is  a  right  in  the  matter.  It  is  perfectly  right,  as  well 
as  a  privilege,  and  has  now  become  a  duty,  for  every  man  in  the 
Church  to  have  a  plurality  of  wives.  But  if  a  man's  wife  tries 
to  do  what  is  right  about  it,  her  husband  should  be  reasonable. 
There  are  some  shrewd  women  in  the  Church  who  cannot  stand 
that  doctrine.  They  were  intended  from  the  foundation  of  the 
world  for  another  purpose.  We  are  all  calculated  to  be  beneficial 
in  the  hands  of  our  Heavenly  Father,  in  rolling  forth  this  great 
work.  But  if  all  our  women  were  like  you,  our  Mormonism 
would  soon  come  to  naught.'' 

I  said,  "  Brother  Brigham,  I  do  not  understand  what  a  mere 
woman  can  do."  To  which  he  replied,  "Such  a  woman  as  you 
are  can  be  very  useful.  I  cannot  explain  it  now,  but  you  shall 
know  soon  enough.  Make  yourself  contented.  I  do  not  uphold 
Wallace.  I  think  he  has  done  very  wrong.  He  must  be  re-bap- 
tized, or  I  cannot  fellowship  him.'' 

At  this  point,  his  daughter  Luna  came  in,  and  called  him  to 
supper.  He  said,  "  Tell  your  ma  I  will  take  tea  with  Augusta 


580  POLYGAMY;  OR,  THE  MYSTERIES 

to-night. ''  The  Augusta  referred  to  was  Mrs.  Cobb,  mentioned 
in  another  part  of  this  book,  and  now  one  of  his  wives.  I  then 
told  him  I  was  disappointed,  and  was  sorry  I  was  there,  but  that 
I  must  make  the  best  of  it.  To  which  he  replied,  "  That  is  the 
right  spirit.  Be  *  sealed  '  to  some  man  that  has  a  wife,  and  then 
you  will  not  feel  so  bad."  Here  the  interview  ended,  and  I  went 
home  to  my  mother,  and  told  her  how  matters  stood,  and  what 
the  Prophet  had  said.  It  was  then  too  late  in  the  fall  to  return 
to  the  States ;  but  I  would  gladly  have  done  so,  had  it  been 
within  my  power. 

My  mother  until  then  had  believed  with  me,  that  the  Prophet 
would  condemn  the  spiritual  wife  doctrine ;  and  we  were  both 
greatly  distressed ;  but  we  soon  had  greater  cause  for  alarm.  I 
have  neglected  to  mention,  that  almost  the  first  person  I  had  met 
upon  my  arrival  at  the  city  was  Wallace,  who  had  been  my  hus- 
band. I  met  him  in  the  street,  and  he  told  me  he  was  going  to 
South  California,  and  perhaps  to  South  America.  He  said  his 
health  was  very  poor ;  and  he  seemed  to  be  in  low  spirits.  I 
wished  him  well  as  we  parted ;  and  this  was  the  last  time  we  ever 
met.  He  went,  and  soon  after  died.  The  news  of  his  death  was 
published  in  the  city  paper,*  which  mentioned  his  disease  as 
having  been  some  difficulty  of  the  throat.  Notwithstanding  his  life 
was  now  no  more  to  me  than  to  a  stranger,  as  I  had  no  intention  of 
living  with  him  again,  yet  I  received  the  news  of  his  death  with 


*  Although  I  have  never  heard  of  Wallace  since  I  saw  the  notice  of  his 
death,  it  now  occurs  to  me,  that  this  of  itself  would  be  no  evidence  of  the 
fact,  if  the  Prophet  had  a  motive  in  inducing  me  to  believe  him  dead. 

I  recollect  a  circumstance  of  this  kind,  that  occurred  when  I  was  at  the 
Valley,  as  follows : 

George  A.  Smith,  who  is  a  bald-headed  old  man,  and  one  of  the  "  Apos- 
tles," wished  to  add  to  the  wives  he  already  had,  a  young  girl;  but  she  pre- 
ferred a  younger  man.  Soon  after  she  was  married  her  husband  was  sent 
away  from  his  home,  and  from  his  young  wife,  upon  a  mission  by  the  in- 
fluence of  Smith,  and  the  story  was  afterwards  circulated  of  his  death; 
and  the  wife  was  "  counselled,"  and  at  length  induced  to  marry  the  "Apos- 
tle "  Smith,  before  rejected.  But  the  husband  returned,  and  claimed  his 
wife.  Smith  refused  to  give  her  up,  or  to  allow  her  to  be  seen  by  him, 
who  thereupon  apostatized,  and  left  for  California,  and  nothing  more  was 
heard  from  him. 

Entering  into  competition  with  an  "Apostle,"  for  the  possession  of  a 
"spiritual"  at  the  Valley,  is  not  thought  to  be  a  safe  or  equal  contest. 


AND    CRIMES    OF    MORMONISM.  581 

feelings  'of  sadness,  the  more  so  as  I  now  felt  we  had  both  been 
the  victims  of  a  cruel  religious  delusion. 

The  following  winter  was  one  of  uncommon  gayety  in  the 
city.  The  Mormons  exceeded  themselves  in  the  number  of  the 
balls  and  parties  and  amateur  theatres,  by  which  nearly  every 
night  was  enlivened.  These  amusements  are  reduced  to  a  system 
among  them,  and  all  classes  and  ages  join  in  the  wild  and  boist- 
erous round  of  amusements  which  here  succeed  each  other.  I 
have  often  danced  at  these  places  with  Brigham  Young  and 
other  heads  of  the  Church.  Appointments  are  made  by  the 
Church  authorities  for  the  balls  for  each  week,  in  such  and  such 
wards,  and  there  are  sometimes  several  in  the  city  on  the  same 
night.  Such  arrangements  are  made  that  every  person  in  the 
Church  can  attend  once  or  twice  each  week.  I  made  it  a  point 
to  attend  these  parties  during  most  of  the  winter,  as  this  was  the 
only  relief  I  had  against  the  presentiment  of  evil  which  op- 
pressed me.  I  felt  at  this  time  that  I  could  no  more  endure 
double  wifeism  now  than  before,  and  if  I  had  understood  the 
Prophet  rightly,  there  was  no  escape  from  it. 

I  cannot  deny  that  I  sometimes  thought  of  Smith.  But  I 
could  hardly  flatter  myself  I '  should  see  him  again,  as  he  had 
started  over  the  plains  before  our  party,  and  since  he  had  not 
yet  arrived,  I  concluded  some  misfortune  had  overtaken  him  or 
he  had  forgotten  me.  I  found  upon  a  close  self-examination, 
that  the  possibility  of  either  being  true  gave  me  great  uneasi- 
ness, and  yet  I  could  not  bring  myself,  even  in  wish,  to  expose 
him  to  the  evils  of  Morinonisin.  And  if  he  came,  how  could  he 
escape?  If  he  did  not  become  a  Mormon,  he  could  be  nothing 
to  me,  and  rather  than  have  him  become  one,  I  would  forego  for- 
ever the  pleasure  of  seeing  him  again. 

I  spent,  during  the  winter,  much  of  my  time  in  the  family  of 
Heber  C.  Kimball,  who  had  more  than  thirty  wives ;  not  all  of 
whom  were  at  home,  however,  as  they  lived  in  different  houses. 

I  had  no  lack  of  offers,  for  it  was  a  common  thing  for  me  to 
make  a  conquest  of  some  one  every  week.  I  was  yet  young, 
and  for  the  first  time  began  to  think  myself  attractive,  if  the 
number  of  my  suitors  could  be  taken  as  an  evidence  of  it.  Among 


582  POLYGAMY  ;    OR,    THE    MYSTERIES 

them  were  numbered  men  of  all  ranks  and  conditions  in  life. 
Heads  of  the  Church  and  distinguished  priests  and  men  ot  all 
ages,  from  the  old  man  of  seventy-five,  with  a  stately  train  of 
wives  at  his  heels,  with  babies  to  match,  to  the  mere  boy  of  eigh- 
teen, who  looked  forward  with  pride  to  the  day  when  he  should 
have  as  many.  If  I  did  not  think  best  to  avail  myself  of  any 
of  these  tempting  and  flattering  offers,  it  does  not  follow  that 
that  they  did  not  afford  me  a  great  amount  of  amusement,  and 
yet  the  reflection  oppressed  me  that  many  of  these  men  were 
acting  under  instructions  from  the  Prophet,  and  that  a  continued 
obstinacy  on  my  part  might  bring  with  it  serious  consequences. 

Oppressed  with  a  vague  fear  of  something  which  I  could  not 
well  define,  I  went  home  one  day,  and  when  at  the  door  my  sis- 
ter Lizzie  met  me,  and  with  a  face  full  of  quizzical  fun,  said, 
"  Oh,  you  can't  guess  who  has  been  here,  nor  can  I  tell  you. 
But  I  expect  you  will  know  well  enough."  "Who  is  it?  "  said 
I.  and  Smith  came  to  my  mind  at  once.  "  Did  his  hair  curl  ?  " 
"  Oh,  yes,?'  said  Lizzie,  "  I  knew  you  were  waiting  for  some  one, 
but  you  sha'n't  have  him ;  we  will  some  of  us  cut  you  out." 

"Now  I  understand  something,''  said  Brother  Kiniball,  who 
had  brought  me  home  in  his  carriage.  He  referred  to  my  refusal 
of  so  many  offers  of  marriage  during  the  winter,  which  was,  he 
said,  very  extraordinary  among  the  Mormons.  There  was  no 
need  for  Lizzie  to  tell  me,  as  she  did,  who  the  stranger  was.  I 
knew  it  was  Smith,  and  I  was  nearly  wild  with  excitement.  He 
had  left  word  that  he  would  call  the  next  day.  and  I  had  ample 
time  to  look  over  the  ground,  and  fully  realize  my  position.  I 
now  felt  I  loved  him  too  well  to  give  him  up,  and  that  this  would 
probably  be  the  only  chance  I  was  likely  to  have  of  marrying  a 
man,  not  a  Mormon.  I  thought  that  by  marrying  him  I  could 
get  away  from  Mormonism,  and  otherwise  I  had  no  means  nor 
excuse  for  going.  The  only  embarrassment  that  presented  itself 
was  the  thought  of  leaving  my  mother  again. 

The  next  morning  he  came,  and  I  was  astonished  to  find  him 
so  much  improved  in  health  and  appearance.  I  was  happy  in 
meeting  him  once  more.  He  told  me  he  thought  the  journey 
over  the  plains  must  have  agreed  with  us  both,  judging  from  our 


AND    CRIMES    OF    MORMONISM.  583 

appearances.  He  said,  ''  I  thought  I  would  call,  as  by  agreement, 
and  see  you.'' 

I  replied,  "  Has  no  other  motive  impelled  you  ?  "  Smith 
looked  at  me  earnestly,  and  said : 

u  I  think  I  can  say  in  good  faith,  other  motives  have  brought 
me  here.  I  wish  to  have  a  few  words  with  you  alone,  if  con- 
venient. Can  I?'' 

I  gladly  consented  to  listen  to  him,  and  indicated  to  my 
mother  what  we  wanted.  As  we  had  but  one  room  in  our  house, 
my  mother  made  an  errand  to  one  of  the  neighbors,  and  left  us 
alone.  I  cannot  well  describe  in  detail  this  interview.  Smith 
said :  "  It  is  now  about  two  years  since  I  have  been  looking  for- 
ward to  this  moment,  and  during  all  that  time,  I  have  fondly 
indulged  the  hope  that  you  would  yet  be  mine ;  and  I  trust  I  am 
not  to  be  disappointed  now.'' 

Of  course  I  told  him  what  my  heart  so  gladly  prompted,  or  at 
least  he  took  it  for  granted. 

I  fully  realized  the  difference  between  an  undivided  attachment 
like  his,  and  that  of  which  I  had  been  the  victim,  when  the  wife 
of  Wallace  Henderson.  I  had  married  Wallace  to  escape  the 
terrible  fate  of  being  obliged  to  marry  some  old  man,  who  had 
already  more  wives  than  he  should  have.  It  is  true  I  had  learned 
.afterwards  to  love  him,  and  if  he  had  treated  me  fairly,  I  should 
have  been  contented  and  happy. 

But  my  attachment  to  Smith  was  of  a  different  and  of  a  more 
absorbing  character ;  and  yet  I  felt  the  embarrassment  of  our 
position.  I  told  Smith  I  could  not  marry  him  without  Brigham 
Young's  consent,  and  that  I  would  do  it  on  no  account,  if  I 
believed  he  ever  could  become  a  Mormon ;  and  yet,  if  we  were 
married  in  Utah,  he  must  at  least  assume  the  appearance  of 
being  one. 

He  said,  "  In  the  spring  we  will  go  to  California,  and  in  the 
mean  time,  I  will  say  nothing  about  being  a  <  Gentile ;  '  and  I 
will  also  pay  my  tithing  regularly,  and  if  they  do  not  press  me 
too  closely,  I  can  pass  for  a  good  enough  Mormon  to  keep  them 
quiet  until  we  get  away.'' 

The  balance  of  the  winter  passed  very  pleasantly.     We  were 


584  POLYGAMY;  OR,  THE  MYSTERIES 

very  careful  not  to  make  our  new  relation,  now  fully  understood 
by  none  but  ourselves,  conspicuous  before  the  public,  as  Smith 
wished  time  to  establish  in  the  Church  a  character  for  Orthodox 
Mormonism,  in  an  easy  and  quiet  manner,  without  exciting 
much  inquiry  upon  the  subject.  With  regard  to  myself,  I  was 
still  the  object  of  great  anxiety  in  a  matrimonial  point  of  view, 
as  the  following  story  will  show  : 

Captain  James  Brown,  who  I  have  mentioned  in  the  first  part 
of  this  narrative,  had  married  my  aunt.  Not  content  with  that, 
he  had  also  among  other  wives 'married  her  daughter,  my  young 
cousin,  a  very  pretty  girl.  Captain  Brown  came  to  my  mother's 
to  make  a  visit,  and  stayed  all  night  with  my  aunt;  and  the 
next  night  he  returned,  with  my  cousin,  and  they  also  remained 
all  night.  The  next  morning  he  said  to  me,  in  a  manner,  and 
with  a  levity  that  perfectly  disgusted  me,  "Nettie,  night  before 
last,  I  lodged  with  your  aunt,  and  last  night  with  your  cousin,  as 
you  have  seen ;  and  to-night,  I  am  going  to  get  your  consent, 
and  Brother  Brigham  will  seal  us,  and  I  will  lodge  with  you/' 
The  hero  of  this  exploit  was  an  old  grey-headed  man  and  was  the 
true  and  lawful  (as  the  lk  Saints  "  reckon  law)  husband  of  eight 
wives.  I  acknowledge  I  was  somewhat  ruffled  in  temper  by  this 
proposition,  especially  thus  backed  up,  as  it  had  been,  by  an 
ocular  display  of  the  working  of  the  system.  My  aunt  soon 
came  into  the  room,  and  I  yaid  to  her,  u  I  really  hope  when  the 
*  Gentiles  '  come  to  shoot  down  the  Mormons  (an  event  considered 
as  not  unlikely  to  happen  some  day),  that  you  will  be  the  first 
one  aimed  at,  for  I  believe  you  will  well  deserve  it. 

"  I  think  you  are  a  most  ridiculous  woman ;  you  have  brought 
up  your  daughter  to  believe  that  it  is  right  and  necessary  for  her 
salvation  to  marry  an  old  white-headed  man,  her  father-in-law.'' 
My  aunt  replied  very  quietly.  "  I  think  your  mother  has  not 
instilled  quite  Mormonism  enough  into  your  mind  for  your  good, 
my  girl."  "  My  mother  ?  ''  said  I.  "Do  you  not  think  I  have 
some  idea  of  what  is  reasonable  and  honorable  myself?" 
Captain  Brown,  after  hearing  so  much  of  our  conversation,  took 
his  hat,  and  went  to  the  Prophet :  and  told  him  I  was  speaking 
disrespectfully  of  the  Celestial  Law.  Brother  Brigham  directed 


AND    CHIMES    OF    MORMONISM.  585 

him  to  bring  me  with  my  aunt  to  his  house  that  evening,  and 
they  would  talk  to  me  of  the  consequences  of  such  sentiments. 
When  Captain  Brown  returned  he  was  quite  cheerful,  and 
said  pleasantly  to  me,  "  Brother  Brigham  has  sent  you  an 
invitation  to  visit  him  this  evening,  with  us.  I  think  we  shall 
have  a  pleasant  time,  will  you  go  ?  ''  I  knew  better  than  to 
decline,  and  I  accordingly  went.  We  found  Brigham  with  his 
first  wife,  Eliza  Snow,  and  another  of  his  wives.  We  had  been 
there  sometime,  and  the  Prophet  had  exerted  himself  to  make  the 
visit  easy  and  agreeable,  when  he  at  length  turned  to  me  and  said, 
"  Well,  Nett,  what  do  you  think  about  men  who  marry  their  step- 
daughters?" uAnd  half-sisters,''  said  I.  "That  is  not  the 
question  I  asked  you,"  said  the  Prophet  with  severity.  u  I  know 
it  is  not,"  replied  I;  "but  the  first  wife  of  George  Watt  has 
occasion  to  ask  this  question  very  often,  as  his  second  wife  claims 
it  as  her  right,  to  take  the  lead  in  the  management  of  home  affairs 
on  the  ground  that  she  is  the  half-sister  of  her  husband,  they 
having  a  common  mother.  The  spirits  of  a  half-brother  and  sister, 
husband  and  wife,  would  be  likely  to  be  the  most  congenial." 

The  Prophet  seemed  somewhat  nettled  at  this,  and  said,  "  I 
discover  you  are  in  the  habit  of  making  light  of  sacred  matters. 
Have  you  never  received  the  gift,  and  felt  the  power  of  the  Holy 
Ghost,  which  it  is  the  privilege  of  every  one  to  feel  who  has  been 
confirmed  under  the  hands  of  one  of  the  Apostles?"  "I  was 
confirmed,''  I  replied,  "by  John  C.  Page,  at  that  time  one  of  the 
Apostles,  but  he  has  since  apostatized,  which  may  account  for 
my  not  -having  experienced  the  change  of  which  you  speak. 
And  yet  I  must  admit  that  I  was  at  one  time  healed  by  old  father 
Bawsley,  under  peculiar  circumstances.  I  had  the  rheumatism 
in  my  right  arm,  for  several  months,  and  at  length  it  was  so  dis- 
abled that  I  could  scarcely  straighten  it.  The  old  man  came,  and 
anointed  it  with  consecrated  oil,  and  prayed,  and  rubbed  the  arm 
a  long  while,  and  I  was  then  able  to  straighten  it  with  ease,  and 
that  was  the  last  of  the  rheumatism,  which  resulted,  I  suppose, 
from  some  virtue  in  the  oil,  or  perhaps  from  the  friction." 

u  By  virtue  of  the  Priesthood,"  said  the  Prophet.    "  I  see  you 
must  have  a  husband  to  strengthen  your  faith.     Perhaps  brother 


586  POLYGAMY;  OR  THE  MYSTERIES 

Brown  would  suit  you.  I  know  he  is  somewhat  old,  but  then  you 
will  be  less  likely  to  be  jealous  of  him,  than  you  would  of  a 
younger  husband." 

**  Uncle,"  said  I,  "  necessity  may  compel  me  to  marry  you,  but 
nothing  else  will.  As  far  as  Mormonism  is  concerned,  as  it 
existed  eight  years  ago,  I  believe  it.  I  am  a  Mormon  as  Mor- 
monism was  then  understood ;  and  it  may  be  right  now ;  but  I 
do  not  understand  it.  I  do  not  see  through  this  new  order  of 
things.''  "  But  no  doubt  you  will  yet,"  said  Mrs.  Cobb,  another 
of  Brigham's  wives,  who  had  just  come  into  the  room. 

The  Prophet  had  watched  me  closely  during  this  conversation, 
as  if  expecting  to  hear  some  damnable  heresy,  and  I  knew  Cap- 
tain Brown  had  represented  niy  case  in  no  very  favorable  light  to 
him,  and  T  was  determined  he  should  get  no  advantage  of  me. 
He  turned  to  the  redoubtable  captain,  whose  prospect  of  being 
sealed  to  me  that  night  was  now  growing  less  and  less,  and  said  : 

"  Captain  Brown,  I  cannot  see  that  Nett  is  altogether  beside 
herself,  she  can  get  along  yet  without  a  husband.  Her  case  is 
not  desperate  by  any  means.  Plenty  of  our  women  believe  as  she 
does.  All  she  needs  is  a  little  time.'1 

I  knew  by  this  what  the  intention  of  Captain  Brown  had  been. 
He  had  expected  the  Prophet  would  have  "counselled''  me  to 
be  sealed  to  him  then  and  at  once,  which  would  have  been  equal 
to  a  command  to  do  so ;  and  a  refusal  would  have  involved  me  in 
serious  difficulty.  I  therefore  took  occasion  to  say  to  him  what 
I  understood  to  be  his  aim  in  citing  me  before  the  Prophet,  who 
said  to  me.  "  No  matter  as  to  that.  All  you  have  to  do  is  to 
obey  "  council,'  and  if  you  do  not  do  that,  you  know  the 
consequences  as  well  as  Captain  Brown." 

As  for  myself,  this  interview  admonished  me  of  the  delicacy 
of  my  position,  and  especially  that  it  behoved  me  to  avoid,  rather 
than  disobey,  the  council  of  the  Prophet.  As  for  the  captain  he 
considered  himself  a  disappointed  lover,  and  found  it  hard  to 
bear  up  against  the  fate  of  single  blessedness  to  which  he  had 
been  doomed,  with  but  eight  wives  to  solace  him. 

I  was  left  in  the  undisturbed  enjoyment  of  personal  freedom 
for  some  time  after  this :  and  my  life  passed  pleasantly  enough, 


AND    CRIMES    OF    MORMONISM.  587 

in  the  exercise  of  due  care  not  to  speak  openly  against  the 
general  principles  of  Mormonism. 

Nothing  had  occurred  to  disturb  my  quiet,  until  one  day  a  mes- 
sage came  in  some  haste  from  Bringham  Young  directing  me  to 
come  to  his  office.  I  had  never  for  a  moment  hesitated  in  obey- 
ing his  commands,  and  always,  I  believe,  without  thinking  it  a 
hardship,  for  I  still  believed  in  him  as  the  Head  of  the  Church. 

My  readers  can  form  but  an  imperfect  estimate  of  the  absolute- 
ness of  the  Prophet's  rule,  or  the  cheerfulness  with  which  obedi- 
ence to  him  is  rendered.  The  performance  of  this  duty  is 
counted  a  pleasure  among  the  faithful,  and  it  is  evidently  the  in- 
tention of  the  Prophet  to  make  it  attractive.  For  instance, 
when  he  issues  a  command,  he  does  it  under  the  pleasing  fiction 
of  administering  "  counsel,"  although  it  is  well  understood,  that 
to  disobey  such  "counsel,"'  would  be  to  incur  the  greatest  peril, 
as  Avell  for  this  world  as  the  next. 

t'pon  going  to  his  office  I  found  the  Prophet  alone.  He  said 
to  me  kindly  :  "  Nett,  you  are  determined,  I  see,  to  uphold 
Mormonism,  notwithstanding  it  goes  against  your  natural  feel- 
ings. Being  in  something  of  a  hurry,  I  must  be  brief  with  you. 
I  suppose  you  understand  that  I  have  selected  the  Bishop  of 
your  ward  for  your  '  spiritual '  husband  for  eternity.  I  have 
done  this  in  order  to  effect  some  things  about  which  I  cannot  be 
very  explicit  to-day,  as  I  have  not  time.  But  he  is  a  good  man, 
such  as  would  suit  me  if  I  were  a  woman. 

"  You  need  not  live  with  him  on  earth  unless  you  wish.  But  it 
is  necessary  to  have  a  husband  to  '  resurrect '  you.  And  more 
than  that  it  has  become  your  duty  to  have  children ;  but  I  do 
not  now  feel  at  liberty  to  insist  upon  such  a  thing.  Brother 
Jones  has  spoken  to  me  several  times  about  you,  and  I  think 
myself  it  is  a  good  plan  to  have  you  '  sealed  J  before  you  get  an 
opportunity  of  marrying  a  '  Gentile. '  The  place  is  filling  up 
with  them,  but  I'll  put  a  stop  to  their  career  before  long.'' 

I  was  at  first  somewhat  alarmed  ;  but  before  he  had  finished  I 
regained  my  self-possession.  I  told  him  about  Smith,  hoping  he 
would  give  his  consent  to  my  being  "  sealed"  to  him,  as  Smith 
passed  now  for  a  Mormon. 


588  POLYGAMY;  OR,  THE  MYSTERIES 

To  this  the  Prophet  objected,  saying  "he  is  a  stranger,  and 
had  better  stay  and  be  tried  before  he  marries  a  Mormon  girl. 
lie  should  go  upon  a  mission  and  return  honorably,  pay  his 
tithing,  work  on  the  Temple,  and  the  like,  before  he  thinks  of 
being  ;  sealed  '  to  any  of  us." 

To  which  I  replied,  "  Brother  Brigham,  I  very  much  fear  I 
shall  not  want  Nathaniel  Jones  in  heaven,  as  I  have  so  great  an 
aversion  to  him  on  earth.  But  as  far  as  marrying  for  eternity  is 
concerned,  one  would  be  the  same  as  another.  You  may  there- 
fore perform  the  ceremony  with  whatever  unction  and  virtue  may 
belong  to  your  office ;  but  it  will  not  do  for  time.  I  trust  you 
will  remember  that  I  would  rather  die ;  and  I  shall  pay  no  atten- 
tion to  it  until  after  death.  That  is  the  wav  I  understand  it.'' 

* 

Brother  Brigham  replied,  "  Just  as  you  and  Brother  Jones  can 
agree  about  that.'' 

I  had  before  this  seen  the  danger  of  disobeying  the  Prophet's 
'  counsel;  ''  but  it  was  a  great  mystery  why  he  wished  me  to  be 
'sealed  to  Brother  Jones.  At  all  events,  I  dare  not  disobey,  and 
to  falter,  was  an  implied  disobedience. 

Nathaniel  V.  Jones  was  a  fine  looking  man,  about  thirty  years 
of  age;  but  he  was  well  known  to  be  a  hard,  cruel  man.  He 
was  the  bishop  of  our  ward,  and  by  trade  a  butcher.  He  soon 
came  into  the  office,  and  sat  down  by  my  side,  looking  very  sedate, 
and,  after  a  moment,  he  said,  u  Brother  Brigham,  I  think  upon 
the  whole  we  have  made  a  very  good  selection."  Then,  looking 
at  me,  he  said,  "  Ettie,  do  you  feel  competent  to  fill  the  mission 
that  has  been  appointed  you?"  I  replied,  "  Sir,  I  do  not  fully 
understand  your  meaning,  but  I  can  try  to  do  almost  anything.'' 

Hereupon  the  Prophet  rose  up,  and  said,  "We  will  now  pro- 
ceed, with  your  own  free  will  and  consent,  Nett.''  I  was  so  much 
excited,  that  it  was  with  difficulty  I  could  stand.  I  trembled 
from  head  to  foot ;  but  I  managed  to  reply,  "  Not  with  my  free 
will.  My  consent  is  given  with  reluctance."  I  supposed  this 
reply  would  induce  Jones  to  make  some  inquiry  as  to  the  state  of 
my  feelings  concerning  the  matter  ;  but  he  paid  no  attention  to 
what  I  had  said. 

Brigham  Young  then  read  over  the  Celestial  Law  concerning 


AND    CRIMES    OF    MORMONISM.  589 

the  matter  of  "  sealing  ''  for  eternity.  I  cannot  recall  the  cere- 
mony in  form ;  but  I  recollect  we  were  "  sealed  "  against  all  sins 
excepting  the  shedding  or  consenting  to  the  shedding  of  innocent 
blood.  The  shedding  of  innocent  blood  being  understood  to 
me&n,  taking  the  life  of  a  Mormon,  or  of  the  Lord's  Anointed. 
Brother  Brigharn  told  me  I  must  expect  to  obey  all  "counsel" 
Brother  Jones  might  see  fit  to  give  me  upon  all  matters  of  im- 
portance. 

I  made  no  reply,  but  put  on  my  bonnet  and  went  to  Brother 
Kimball's,  greatly  distressed,  and  asked  his  first  wife  if  she  knew 
what  to  think  of  such  proceedings.  She  told  me,  with  an  air  of 
sadness,  she  was  not  at  liberty  to  disclose  it  to  me,  if  she  knew 
all  they  intended  me  to  do.  Not  so  much  from  what  she  said  as 
from  what  she  declined  to  say,  I  saw  myself  in  the  hands  of  those 
who  had  some  views  with  regard  to  my  future  of  which  I  was  not 
informed  and  upon  which  I  had  not  been  consulted.  I  felt  my- 
self beset  by  a  mysterious  power,  not  beyond  my  control* only, 
but  beyond  my  knowledge. 

Mormonism  was  assuming  a  new  and  fearful  form.  From  re- 
garding it  with  feelings  of  reverence  and  love,  which  from  child- 
hood had  been  my  wont,  I  began  to  quake  and  tremble  at  its  en- 
croachments, and  now  I  shuddered  outright  under  the  vague 
sense  of  an  approaching  evil,  too  hidden  for  my  detection  and 
too  powerful  for  my  resistance. 

Oppressed  with  this  conviction,  I  went  home,  hoping  to  meet 
Smith  there,  that  I  might  inform  him  of  the  new  turn  affairs  had 
taken  with  me ;  and  indulging  the  wish  that  he  might  find  some 
way  by  which  we  could  escape  from  the  dangers  that  thickened 
around  us.  But  before  I  saw  him,  Jones  came  to  our  house  and 
said,  "  Ettie,  I  wish  you  to  board  at  my  house  and  teach  the  ward 
school." 

He  then  required  me  to  promise  that  I  would  come  up  imme- 
diately, and  left.  As  I  had  promised,  I  soon  went  to  brother 
Jones'  house,  and  found  that  he  was  going  away,  as  he  had  said. 
When  he  was  gone  I  had  a  long  talk  with  his  wife,  from  whom  I 
soon  learned  that  Mormonism  was  killing  her  by  inches.  Poor 
thing,  she  was  not  the  only  victim  to  this  cruel  delusion  among 


590  POLYGAMY:  OR,  THE  MYSTERIES 

the  trusting  women,  who  had  conie  to  the  valley  believing  in  the 
Prophet,  and  in  a  faithful  husband  who  afterwards  deserted  them 
for  some  "spiritual  wife."  with  a  younger  face,  whose  spirit  was 
less  careworn  and  broken  by  harsh  neglect.  Her  agonized  soul 
was  crushed  under  a  system  against  which  she  dare  not  refoel. 
Of  its  terrible  bitterness  she  had  never  before  uttered  a  whisper. 

Mormon  women  dare  not  disclose,  even  to  each  other,  the  storv 
of  their  wrongs;  but  if  not  uread  of  all  men,"  they  are  at  least 
understood  by  an  intuition,  sharpened  by  u  personal  experience 
among  their  own  sex.  Words  are  unnecessary.  A  common  fate 
oppresses  them.  The  forlorn  look,  and  wild  abandon  of  some, 
and  vacant  acquiescence  of  others,  and  the  common  sadness  of 
all,  tells  its  own  story.  It  is  true  that  many  Mormon  women 
find  themselves  capable  of  acquiescing  cheerfully  in  this  arrange- 
ment, and  many  more  do  so  in  appearance ;  but  I  have  no 
hesitation  in  expressing  the  opinion,  founded  upon  actual  obs'-r- 
vation  made  during  a  life  spent  among  them,  that  at  least 
two-thirds  of  them,  if  they  were  at  liberty  to  act  freely,  would 
to-day  repudiate  Morrnonisrn.  and  avail  themselves  of  Gentile 
protection,  if  it  were  once  proffered  in  a  safe  and  reliable  form. 

It  was  quite  late  at  night  when  Jones  came  home,  and  he  went 
to  bed  immediately,  telling  us  to  be  very  particular  and  wake 
him,  and  get  breakfast  before  daylight  the  next  morning. 

I  have  no  words  at  command  by  which  to  express  my  state  of 
mind  when  left  alone.  I  saw  a  crisis  in  my  affairs  was  approach- 
ing. I  had  suffered  so  much  already  that  it  appeared  impossible 
for  humanity  to  bear  more.  I  went  to  my  chamber,  and  kneeled 
down,  and  prayed  my  Heavenly  Father  for  protection  from  this 
new  danger  that  threatened  me. 

Then  a  terrible  thought  came  into  my  mind.  The  cold  hard 
reality  of  my  earthly  lot  froze  my  soul  with  horror.  The  iron  of 
despair  went  to  my  heart,  and  I  cowered  shivering  upon  the  floor. 
When  I  rose  again,  my  soul  had  taken  measures  for  its  own  pro- 
tection. During  the  day,  I  went  to  the  o'ffice  of  Dr.  Hodgekiss 
and  procured  a  phial  of  laudanum,  which  I  secreted  safely  about 
my  person,  and  returned  to  Jones'  house. 

The  day  was  passed  in  a  state  of  mind  bordering  upon  insanity. 


AND    CRIMES    OF    MORMONISM.  591 

Not  once  did  my  soul  relent  its  high  purpose.  I  thought  often 
of  Smith.  It  was  hard  to  part ;  but  either  alternative  was  the 
same,  as  far  as  he  was  concerned.  If  I  submitted  to  Jones, 
Smith  was  lost  to  me,  and  if  dead,  I  was  lost  to  him.  It  was  all 
the  same ;  I  chose  to  die  rather  than  submit. 

Jones  did  not  return  that  evening,  and  I  went  to  bed  to  pass  a 
sleepless  night  of  agony.  I  fell  at  times  into  an  unsound  sleep 
only  to  start  affrighted  by  horrid  dreams,  and  I  was  glad  to  see 
the  light  again.  But  early  enough  in  the  morning  he  returned. 
Jones  went  to  his  room,  and  dressed  himself,  and  after  breakfast 
called  me.  in,  saying  he  would  like  to  have  some  conversation  with 
me.  As  I  went  in,  I  found  him  sitting  in  a  large  rocking-chair. 
His  room  was  pleasantly  furnished.  He  said,  "  Sit  down  upon 
my  lap,  Ettie.'' 

I  did  not  move,  but  stood  perfectly  amazed,  and  yet  this  was 
what  I  had  expected.  He  said  at  length,  "  Have  you  forgotten 
what  brother  Brigham  told  you  ?  " 

' '  I  have  not ;  but  have  you  no  more  principle  than  to  take 
advantage  of  a  submission  extorted  from  me  when  I  was  not  free, 
but  under  the  compulsion  of  the  Prophet's  '  counsel  ? ' 

"  Brother  Jones,  I  will  not  ask  for  an  explanation,"  said  I, 
"  if  you  will  permit  me  to  go  to  my  mother's  house.  May  I  go  ?  " 
The  fiend,  laughing,  arose  from  his  chair  as  if  to  come  to  me. 
"  Stay  where  you  are,  for  I  would  rather  feel  the  cold  and  slimy 
touch  of  a  serpent  than  be  near  you.'' 

He  laughed  outright,  and  moved  towards  me  again,  saying,  as 
he  came,  with  a  show  of  resolution,  "  the*  bishop  is  not  to  be 
trifled  with."  "Neither  is  his  prisoner,"  said  I.  There  was  not 
a  moment  to  lose.  Taking  the  phial  of  laudanum,  and  drawing 
the  cork,  I  swallowed  the  contents  before  he  reached  me  or  half 
comprehended  my  intention ;  and  then  throwing  the  empty  phial 
to  him,  asked  if  he  was  satisfied,  and  if  he  would  send  for  my 
mother.  He  caught  me  in  his  arms,  and  rushed  into  the  other 
room,  saying,  "  Rebecca,  Ettie  has  killed  herself.''  Rebecca,  who 
fully  understood  how  the  facts  were,  replied  with  a  spirit  I  had 
never  before  seen  her  exhibit,  "  and  you  are  her  murderer,  and  I 
think  you  will  find  you  must  answer  for  it  in  the  end." 


592  POLYGAMY;  OR,  THE  MYSTERIES 

Jones  then  left  me  on  the  bed,  and  went  for  Dr.  Hodgekiss, 
and  soon  my  mother  and  sister  Lizzie  came.  They  gave  me 
some  strong  coffee  and  an  emetic,  and  when  the  physician  arrived, 
he  said  I  was  out  of  danger,  and  that  the  overdose  I  had  taken 
had  saved  me.  My  mother  did  not  leave  me  that  night,  and  in 
the  morning  I  went  home  with  her,  without  let  or  hindrance  from 
Jones.  The  latter  was  under  the  necessity  of  acknowledging  him- 
self defeated,  and  for  some  reason  he  was  soon  after  sent  away 
upon  a  foreign  mission. 

Soon  after  the  events  narrated  in  this  chapter,  I  was  happily 
married  to  Reuben  P.  Smith,  and  we  left  Utah,  glad  to  escape 
from  such  a  life  of  persecution  and  terror.  ETTIE. 


We  have  added  this  chapter,  written  by  an  intelligent  woman 
who  went  to  Utah  with  the  Mormons  in  1847,  and  lived  there  for 
many  years  while  Brigham  Young  was  President.  Then  the 
Mormon  sect  was  in  the  height  of  its  glory,  and  Young  ruled  the 
people  with  a  rod  of  iron.  There  was  a  reign  of  terror  in  Utah 
from  1852  until  1877,  when  Brigham  Young  died.  During  this 
time  hundreds  of  Gentiles  were  murdered  or  driven  out  of  the 
Territory  by  Danites,  or  "  Destroying  Angels.'* 

THE  PUBLISHERS. 


AND    CRIMES    OF    MORMONISM.  593 


CHAPTER  XXVIII. 


FORMALLY  EXPELLED,  GIVES  HIS  TESTIMONY  BEFORE  THE  SEN- 
ATE INVESTIGATING  COMMITTEE — HE  OPENLY  AVOWS  HIS  DIS- 
REGARD OF  THE  LAW  AGAINST  POLYGAMY — MORAL  OBLIGA- 
TIONS TO  MAINTAIN  POLYGAMOUS  RELATIONS  OUTWEIGH 
THE  CIVIL  STATUTES  AGAINST  POLYGAMY — DECLARES 
THAT    COMMANDS   OF    THE    MORMON    CHURCH    ARE 
SUPERIOR    TO     DUTIES    IMPOSED     BY    THE    LAW. 

Brigham  II.  Roberts,  the  Mormon  expelled  from  the  House  of 
Representatives  several  years  ago,  because  he  was  a  polygamist, 
testified  before  the  Senate  Committee,  investigating  charges 
which  have  as  their  object  the  expulsion  of  Reed  Smoot  from  the 
Senate,  that  he  is  still  living  in  polygamy,  and  that  he  considers 
it  his  duty  to  continue  so  doing. 

His  course  he  admitted  to  be  a  violation  of  the  laws  of  his 
State  and  contrary  to  the  laws  of  God,  as  revealed  in  the  Wood- 
ruff manifesto.  That  manifesto  having  left  him  in  the  midst 
of  obligations  which  he  did  not  feel  at  liberty  to  disregard. 

This  testimony  of  an  ardent  champion  of  polygamy  who  sat 
in  the  halls  of  Congress  until  ejected  by  the  vote  of  his  col- 
leagues, was,  of  course,  the  feature  of  the  reopening  of  the  Smoot 
inquiry,  after  an  interval  of  several  weeks. 

Having  been  elected  one  of  the  first  seven  Presidents  in  1888, 
Mr.  Roberts  testified  he  entered  politics  the  following  year,  but 
confined  himself  to  making  speeches  until  1894,  when  he  was 
elected  a  member  of  the  Constitutional  Convention. 

He  explained  his  candidacy  for  Congress  and  the  opposition 
that  had  developed  from  Mormon  sources.  They  had  opposed 
the  election  of  high  officers  of  the  church  to  membership  of  the 
38 


POLYGAMY;  OR,  THE  MYSTERIES 

<  'oii^titutional  Convention  and  he  bad  accordingly  consented  not 
to  urge  his  candidacy.  He  was  nominated  in  his  absence  and 
\\a>  informed  that  the  order  had  been  rescinded. 

Mr.  Roberts  said  he  has  three  wives — one  married  in  1877< 
the  second  in  1880,  and  the  third  in  ls'.«>. 

Senator  Overman  inquired  whether  his  first  wife  and  his  s*r- 
ond  wife  had  consented  to  his  marriage  Asith  the  third  wife. 

••N<>,  sir."  said  Mr.  Roberts.  Continuing,  lie  said  they  did 
not  learn  of  the  marriage  for  three  or  four  years. 

••  Why  was  this  marriage  concealed  from  them  ?  "  asked  Chair- 
man Burrows. 

''  Because  I  did  not  want  to  embarrass  them." 

"  How  embarrass  them  ':  " 

'•  Well.  \ve  knew  the  marriage  was  illegal,  and  it  might  be  em- 
biirrassini:  to  them  if  they  should  be  called  on  to  testify." 

Mr.  Taylor  a>ked  Mr.  Roberts  why  he  thought  it  incumbent 
upon  him  to  take  plural  wive>. 

•k  From  boyhood.''  replied  the  witness,  "  I  had  been  taught  that 
plural  marriages  were  right,  and  I  believed  polygamy  was  sanc- 
tioned by  the  law  of  God.  I  knew  that  this  practice  was  contrary 
to  the  mandates  of  Congress,  but  believed  that  the  law  of  God 
wa>  the  highest  rule,  and  I  felt  impelled  to  obey  it." 

Chairman  Burrows  asked  a  number  of  pointed  questions,  which 
brought  out  the  confession  from  Mr.  Roberts  that  he  still  believes 
in  and  is  practicing  polygamy.  He  said  he  believes  that  the 
Woodruff  manifesto  was  divinely  inspired,  and  that  now  in  prac- 
ticing polygamy  he  knows  he  is  disobeying  both  the  laws  of  the 
land  and  the  laws  of  God. 

Roberts  was  asked  why  he  continued  to  disobey  the  laws  of 
God,  if  he  believed  them  to  be  the  highest  laws,  and  with  a  re- 
:  air  he  said  : 

"  Well,  the  manifesto  left  me  in  the  midst  of  obligations  to 
these  wives.  I  am  trying  to  do  the  best  I  can  to  live  within  the 
laws,  but  these  obligations  I  cannot  shirk. " 

The  witness  said  he  had  been  through  the  endowment  house, 
that  the  endowment  house  oath  or  ceremony  was  now  performed 
in  the  temples. 


AND   CRIMES    OF    MORMONISM.  595 

"  Can  you  not  tell  us  in  regard  to  this  ceremony?"  asked 
Chairman  Burrows. 

"  I  cannot.  I  do  not  feel  at  liberty  to  do  so.  I  consider 
myself  in  trust  and  not  at  liberty  to  disclose  what  takes  place." 

Mr.  Roberts  said  that  the  obligations  were  secret  and  he 
thought  them  not  unlike  the  oaths  of  the  Masonic  order  or  other 
secret  societies. 

u  What  would  happen  if  you  did  reveal  what  took  place  within 
the  Temple?  "  asked  the  chairman. 

"I  would  lose  caste  and  be  regarded  as  betraying  a  trust.  If 
I  keep  faith  I  cannot  disclose  what  takes  place." 

"  Then,''  pursued  Chairman  Burrows,  "  any  person  who  takes 
the  endowment  house  obligation  is  under  oath  not  to  reveal  it  ?  " 

"I  think  so.'1 

c>  And  Senator  Smoot  could  not  reveal  his  oath  of  that 
character '! ' ' 

The  witness  nodded  his  head  in  acquiescence. 

Senator  Bailey  asked  whether  there  was  anything  in  the  cere- 
mony that  abridged  a  man's  freedom  in  any  political  way. 

The  witness  replied  he  thought  not. 

Roberts  was  allowed  to  say  that  he  believed  the  obligation 
related  specifically  to  spiritual  affairs. 

Edward  E.  Barthell,  of  Nashville,  Tenn.,  the  next  witness, 
related  conversations  he  had  with  George  E.  Fox,  of  the  Mormon 
Church,  who  called  on  him  after  he  had  asked  for  and  received 
some  papers  from  the  Morman  propaganda.  This  meeting  re- 
sulted in  Fox  being  invited  to  attend  the  session  of  a  club  to 
which  Barthell  belonged,  and  in  which  Fox  made  an  address. 
Chairman  Burrows  asked  what  the  speaker  had  said,  and  the 
witness  replied : 

"  Well,  he  told  us  miracles  were  easy  ;  that  it  was  no  trouble 
to  perform  them.  If  a  man  had  one  arm  and  wanted  another  he 
could  get  it." 

Attorney  Worthington,  for  the  defence,  who  is  compelled  to 
use  a  cane,  observed  :  "  I  would  like  to  meet  that  man.'' 

Continuing  his  story,  Mr.  Barthell  said  Mr.  Fox  also  told 
about  the  order  of  the  church  concerning  polygamy,  saving  that 


596  POLYGAMY;  OR,  THE  MYSTERIES 

"  polygamy  is  all  right,  but  it  has  been  discontinued,  though  the 
^cohabc  are  still  following  their  custom.'  We  did  not  know 
what  he  meant  by  '  cohabs,'  and  he  explained  that  he  referred  to 
those  who  continued  to  live  with  plural  wives.'1 


ANGUS     M.     CANNON     TELLS    OF     PLURAL     MARRIAGES     AND 

REFUSES  TO  REVEAL  CHURCH    CEREMONIES DECLARES 

ENDOWMENT     HOUSE     OATHS     SACRED     COVENANTS 
WHICH      THE      WORLD      MUST      NOT      KNOW. 

Angus  M.  Cannon,  patriarch  of  the  Mormon  Church,  who  has  six 
wives,  two  of  whom  are  sisters  which  he  married  the  same  day, 
was  the  chief  witness  at  the  Smoot  hearing.  His  revelations  of 
Mormonism,  as  he  appreciates  it,  made  an  unpleasant  impression. 

Mr.  Cannon  left  no  doubt  in  the  minds  ef  his  hearers  that 
his  belief  in  all  the  doctrines  of  the  Mormon  Church  is  unalter- 
able, and  his  refusal  to  make  known  the  secrets  of  the  endow- 
ment house  ceremonies  was  even  more  positive  than  that  of 
Brigham  H.  Roberts. 

Mr.  Cannon  said  he  did  not  wish  to  appear  disrespectful  to 
the  committee,  but  it  was  absolutely  impossible  for  him  to  tell 
anything  of  the  nature  of  these  ceremonies,  which  were  con- 
ducted by  men  and  women,  because  he  considered  it  a  secret 
obligation  and  entirely  spiritual  in  character. 

Another  feature  of  Mr.  Cannon's  testimony  was  his  statement 
that  in  the  Mormon  Church  there  were  marriages  between  the 
living  and  the  dead.  The  ceremony,  he  said,  was  performed 
with  a  proxy,  representing  the  dead. 

The  other  important  witness  of  the  day  was  Calvin  Cobb,  a 
Gentile  and  publisher  of  a  newspaper  in  Boise  City. 

"  The  great  mass  of  our  people  in  Idaho,"  said  Mr.  Cobb,  in 
his  most  important  statement,  "  are  perfectly  powerless,  because 
the  leaders  directing  both  political  parties  make  their  platforms 
agreeable  to  the  Mormons  without  regard  to  the  public  interest.'' 

Mr.  Cobb  described  in  detail  the  dominating  power  of  the 
Mormons  in  Idaho,  and  insisted  that  it  was  altogether  bad  in  its 
influence  on  the  State. 


AND   CRIMES   OF   MORMONISM.  597 

Mr.  Cobb  was  examined  in  regard  to  polygamy  in  Idaho  and 
the  influence  of  Mormons  on  the  politics  of  the  State.  He  said 
there  was  no  statute  against  polygamous  cohabitation,  though 
several  unsuccessful  efforts  had  been  made  to  enact  such  a 
statute.  All  of  these  measures  had  died  in  the  Legislature, 
which  was  about  one-third  Mormon. 

In  regard  to  the  Mormon  influence  in  the  State  Mr.  Cobb  said 
the  chairman  of  the  State  organizations  of  both  parties  would  go 
to  Salt  Lake  before  every  campaign  and  both  would  return  and 
say  everything  had  been  "  fixed  all  right."  After  the  election 
one  or  the  other  felt  that  things  had  not  been  "  all  right.'' 

August  M.  Cannon  was  called  to  the  stand  in  the  afternoon 
session.  He  said  he  had  lived  in  Salt  Lake  since  1849,  but  had 
been  blessed  in  the  Mormon  Church  when  he  was  five  years  old. 
He  is  seventy  years  old  and  now  holds  the  office  of  Patriarch  in 
the  Mormon  Church,  having  been  designated  for  that  position  by 
Joseph  F.  Smith.  Patriarchs,  the  witness  said,  rank  next  to  the 
Twelve  Apostles  in  dignity.  Mr.  Cannon  said  for  twenty-eight 
years  he  had  been  president  of  the  Salt  Lake  Stake  of  Zion. 

The  sensation  of  the  hearing  occurred  when  Mr.  Taylor  ex- 
amined Mr.  Cannon  in  regard  to  his  various  marriages.     Mr. 
Taylor  asked  the  witness  when  he  was  first  married  and  he  an- 
swered, "  On  July  18,  1858." 
"To  whom?''  was  asked. 
"  Sarah  Maria  Mousley,''  was  the  answer. 
When  Mr.  Taylor  asked, ."  Who  next  ?"     Mr.  Cannon  stood 
up,  and  his  voice  shook  with  great  emotion  as  he  explained : — 

"  I  beg  an  opportunity  to  explain  and  to  ask  a  question  of  the 
chairman  before  I  proceed.  Nineteen  years  ago  I  was  brought 
into  great  trouble.  I  was  prosecuted  and  sent  to  prison  because 
I  acknowledged  the  mothers  of  my  children  as  my  families.  I 
was  given  the  opportunity  of  deseiting  my  families  or  going  to 
prison — and  I  went  to  prison. "  Bancroft  Ubrar 

"  I  was  sent  to  prison  for  eight  months  and  served  six  months, 
when  the  Supreme  Court  took  up  my  case  and  I  was  released. 
While  I  was  in  prison  I  said  to  my  associates  who  called,  *  You 
could  not  come  here  in  honor,  I  could  not  stay  out  in  honor.' 


598  POLYGAMY:  <>R.  Tin:  MYSTERIES 

u  For  a  long  time  T  have  lived  within  the  law  as  far  as  it  was 
possible  to  do  so  in  the  face  of  obligations  to  ray  families,  I  have 
not  paraded  mv  families,  but  I  have  nourished  them.  I  will 
answer  all  questions  in  regard  to  myself  or  Mormonisin  if  I  am 
assured  that  I  will  not  lie  prosecuted  by  reason  of  my  testimony.'' 

As  Mr.  Cannon  sat  down,  trembling  with  emotion,  Mr. 
\Vorthington  asked  him  if  he  had  any  counsel,  and  witness 
said  he  had  none. 

Chairman  Burrows  thought  the  witness  was  protected  by  the 
revised  statutes,  but  Mr.  Worth ington  said  the  statutes  did  not 
prevent  persons  who  desired  to  prosecute  the  witness  from  taking 
the  records  of  the  hearings  and  thus  learning  where  was  to  be 
found  the  necessary  evidence  for  conviction. 

Mr.  Burrows  said  the  witness  was  at  liberty  to  decline  to  an- 
swer any  questions  he  chose,  but  Mr.  Worthington  insisted  that 
the  refusal  must  be  based  on  the  ground  that  the  witness  feared 
to  incriminate  himself. 

MARRIED   T.WO   SISTERS   ON   SAME   DAY. 

Mr.  Taylor  observed  that  he  did  not  desire  answers  to  any 
questions  which  related  to  marriages  that  were  not  fully  exempted 
from  prosecution  under  the  statute  of  limitation,  and  on  that 
statement  the  chairman  directed  that  the  question  concerning  the 
>en->nd  marriage  of  Mr.  Cannon  should  be  answered. 

"  To  whom  were  you  next  married  ': '' 
•  Anna  Amanda  Mousley." 

"  When  were  you  married  to  her  ''  '  • 

"  At  same  hour  that  I  married  Sarah  Maria  Mousley.  ' 

••  By  the  same  ceremony  ?  r 

"  Yes.'1 

"  To  whom  were  you  next  married  ?" 

"  Mrs.  Clara  C.  Mason,  in  1875." 

Mr.  Cannon  said  he  was  married  to  Martha  Hughes  in  1884. 
Maria  Bannion  in  1886,  and  Johanna  G.  Donelson  in  1886,  and  he 
had  not  been  married  since  that  time.  All  his  wives  were  living. 

Mr.  Cannon  was  asked  if  he  remembered  a  prosecution  against 
him  in  1886  for  cohabitation  with  Mattie  Hughes  Cannon,  and 


AND    CRIMES    OF    MORMONISM.  599 

he  answered  that  he  remembered  the  prosecution,  but  did  not  re- 
member which  wife  he  was  charged  with  cohabiting  with.  He 
was  arrested,  but  had  not  testified  in  any  hearing. 

When  asked  to  describe  the  residences  of  his  wives,  Mr.  Can- 
non said  all  lived  in  Salt  Lake  City,  but  in  separate  houses.  He 
had  families  by  five  of  his  wives. 

"  Do  you  live  with  all  of  your  wives  now  ?  " 

"  I  am  sorry  to  say  that  I  don't." 

"  Is  it  because  you  are  now  in  Washington  and  cannot  bo 
living  with  them?  " 

"  No ;  because  of  an  agreement  made  by  the  Church,  which 
compels  me  to  be  as  modest  as  I  can. ' ' 

Chairman  Burrows  asked  in  regard  to  this  agreement,  and  the 
witness  said  he  referred  to  the  manifesto  of  1890,  declaring 
against  a  continuance  of  polygamous  cohabitation. 

"  What  has  been  the  effect  of  the  manifesto  upon  you  ?  " 

"  It  has  made  me  more  modest,  and  I  have  been  only  as  atten- 
tive as  I  felt  common  humanity  required  me  to  be." 

"  What  do  you  mean  by  that  ?  " 

"  I  mean  that  this  Church  order  has  made  me  more  cold  in  my 
treatment  of  them  than  I  should  be. M 

Chairman  Burrows  asked  many  questions  concerning  the  atti- 
tude of  the  witness  toward  the  laws  of  the  iand  and  the  laws  of 
God,  both  of  which  declared  against  polygamous  cohabitation, 
and  his  obligation  to  his  families. 

Mr.  Cannon  said  he  was  meeting  the  situation  to  the  best  of  his 
ability,  and  trying  as  nearly  as  possible  to  equalize  his  loyalty  to 
all  of  his  obligations.  He  related  the  proceedings  at  the  recent 
conference  at  Salt  Lake,  at  which  President  Smith  had  been  sup- 
ported for  the  testimony  he  had  given  in  Washington. 

When  asked  if  the  people  had  censured  the  President  of  the 
Church  for  his  testimony,  Mr.  Cannon  said  he  had  heard  of  no 
criticism,  but  they  regretted  the  circumstances  which  made  such 
disclosures  necessary. 

Chairman  Burrows  asked  the  witness  how  it  was  that  the  res- 
olutions adopted  at  that  conference  had  not  declared  against 
polygamous  cohabitation  and  did  declare  against  polygamy.  Mr. 


600  POLYGAMY;  OR,  THE  MYSTERIES 

Cannon  replied  that  the  question  of  polygamous  cohabitation 
had  not  been  mentioned.  It  was  understood  that  those  who 
had  plural  wives  should  not  parade  them  offensively,  but  should 
care  for  them.  Mr.  Cannon  said  he  had  seconded  the  resolution 
that  had  been  adopted. 

"  Do  you  mean  that  you  will  go  on  living  with  your  plural 
wives?" 

u  I  will  have  to  improve  greatly  if  I  don't.  I  follow  the  dicta- 
tion of  my  conscience  in  the  matter." 

Mr.  Cannon  declined  to  reveal  the  oaths  taken  in  the  Endow- 
ment House,  declaring  they  were  sacred  covenants  entered  into 
with  their  Maker.  He  said  only  the  very  pure  were  permitted 
to  enter  the  Endowment  House. 

4 'You  mean  such  as  yourself  and  President  Smith?"  said 
Chairman  Burrows. 

Again  and  again  the  witness  evaded  questions  relating  to  the 
character  of  the  obligations  taken  in  the  Endowment  House,  and 
he  finally  said,  "  God  had  made  it  known  that  the  sacred  cove- 
nants should  not  be  spoken  of  to  the  world." 

Mr.  Cannon  would  not  say  there  was  any  penalty  attached  to 
such  disclosures  or  whether  promise  was  given  that  the  questions 
should  not  be  answered.  In  answer  to  Senator  Overman,  Mr. 
Cannon  said  the  twenty  apostles  had  taken  the  Endowment 
House  oath. 

Great  interest  was  manifested  by  members  of  the  committee 
concerning  the  character  of  the  Endowment  House  marriage 
ceremonies,  but  little  could  be  obtained  from  Mr.  Cannon. 
When  pressed  too  closely  he  answered  that  he  could  not 
remember. 

CHURCH    RULES    THE    STATE    IN    UTAH,  SAYS   JUDGE   POWERS — 

THE   WITNESS    DESCRIBES   THE    DOMINANCE    OF 

MORMONISM    IN    CIVIL   AFFAIRS. 

A  thorough  review  of  Mormon  interference  in  the  political 
affairs  of  Utah  was  given  by  Judge  0.  W.  Powers,  before  the 
Senate  Committee  on  Privileges  and  Elections  in  the  investiga- 
tion of  the  protest  against  Senator  Reed  Smoot. 


AND    CRIMES   OF   MORMONISM.  601 

Judge  Powers  showed  that  the  Church  controlled  in  civil  as 
well  as  ecclesiastical  affairs.  He  spoke  specifically  of  the  Thatcher 
and  Roberts  cases.  These  men  were  charged  with  "  disobeying 
the  rules  of  the  Church  by  accepting  a  nomination  for  office 
without  first  taking  counsel  of  the  Church." 

Judge  Powers  said  that,  four  days  after  Thatcher  announced 
himself  on  a  platform  opposed  to  church  interference  in  politics 
he  was  deposed  as  an -apostle.  Thatcher  was  obliged  to  recant 
his  antagonistic  view  of  church  interference. 

Judge  Powers  was  appointed  by  President  Cleveland  as  an 
Associate  Justice  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  Utah  in  1885,  when 
prosecutions  under  the  Edmunds  Act  were  just  beginning.  Dur- 
ing his  incumbency,  he  said  there  had  been  about  one  hundred 
persons  prosecuted  for  polygamy  and  polygamous  cohabitation, 
among  them  being  Lorenzo  Snow,  then  one  of  the  twelve  apos- 
tles, who  afterward  was  elected  President  of  the  Church.  Mr.  ' 
Snow  was  convicted  and  sentenced. 

Judge  Powers  said  he  had  examined  persons  who  applied  for 
naturalization.  In  regard  to  an  application  by  one  Neil  Hanson, 
Judge  Powers  said  he  was  informed  by  Hanson  that  he  would 
obey  the  laws  of  the  Church,  rather  than  laws  of  the  land,  if 
they  should  "run  counter  to  each  other."  The  application  for 
citizenship  was  denied. 

MORMON  CHURCH    IN   POLITICS — JUDGE  POWERS  SAYS  ITS  CANDI- 
DATES   ARE    ALWAYS     ELECTED — HE     DECLARES  :     "  IT 
IS    THE   HIERARCHY    WORKING    tO    ATTAIN    ENDS 
ANTAGONISTIC  TO  AMERICAN    INSTITUTIONS." 

When  the  Smoot  hearing  before  the  Senate  Committee  on 
Privileges  and  Elections  was  resumed,  Judge  0.  W.  Powers,  of 
Utah,  was  again  on  the  witness  stand. 

Judge  Powers  began  his  testimony  by  reading  the  protests  of 
Democratic  adherents  of  Moses  Thatcher,  addressed  to  the 
United  States  Senate,  calling  attention  to  the  interference  of  the 
Church  leaders  in  the  Senatorial  contest  which  resulted  in  the 
defeat  of  Thatcher,  who  was  a  Mormon  apostle  running  for  the 
Senate  without  having  obtained  consent  of  the  Church. 


602  POLYGAMY  ;    OR,    THE    MYSTERIES 

By  Mr.  Overman — "Were  there  any  ladies  in  the  Legislature 
that  elected  Senator  Sinoot ':  " 

"  Yes,  sir.  One  lady  from  Ogden  was  chairman  of  the 
Judiciary  Committee  of  the  House.  There  were^others." 

u  Did  any  of  them  vote  for  Smoot  ?  " 

<c  I  think  so." 

Judge  Powers  told  something  more  of  the  "  legislative  commit- 
tee'7 of  Mormons  who  passed  upon  all  bills  before  permitting 
the  Legislature  to  consider  them. 

"  What  is  the  chief  exhibition  of  present  domination  by  the 
Church?" 

"To  my  mind  it  was  the  April  conference  in  1896,  when, 
without  a  dissenting  vote,  the  i  present  manifesto  '  was  sustained, 
requiring  candidates  to  obtain  the  consent  of  the  Church  to  run 
for  office.  At  that  conference,  also,  Moses  Thatcher  was  dropped 
from  the  apostleship  without  a  word  of  explanation." 

(By  Mr.  McComas.)  "  How  do  the  younger  men  and  women 
of  the  Mormon  Church  regard  polygamy  ? '  ' 

"  I  think  they  oppose  the  practice.  Although  I  have  often 
been  surprised  to  see  the  power  of  the  church  over  its  members/' 

"  Is  there  a  feeling  of  tolerance  toward  the  older  members  who 
are  living  in  polygamous  cohabitation  ?  " 

"  There  is  a  feeling  of  resentment  against  it  by  the  younger 
element.  Yet  conditions  are  so  peculiar  that  it  is  hard  to  tell.'' 

"Isn't  it  true  that  a  young  man  with  more  than  one  family 
has  a  hard  time  making  a  living  ?" 

"  YTes,  sir.  And  another  thing  is  that  the  women  are  more 
like  other  women,  with  a  desire  for  social  life,  dress,  and  so  forth. 
That  counts,  in  considering  the  cost  of  plural  families." 

"Why  are  not  the  older  members  of  the  church  prosecuted 
for  living  in  polygamous  cohabitation  ?  " 

If  the  church  will  stop  new  plural  marriages  and  allow  this 
matter  to  die  out,  we  of  the  old  guard  are  willing  to  let  them 
alone.  People  in  the  East  cannot  believe  it  proper  to  have  more 
than  one  wife.  But  these  people  do  believe  it.  The  Mormon  men 
and  women  believe  it  is  moral  and  right.  A  Mormon  woman  will 
as  readily  admit  that  she  is  a  plural  wrife  as  a  woman  in  the  East 


AND    CRIMES    OF    MORMONISM.  603 

will  admit  herself  to  be  the  sole  wife  of  one  man.  There  is  a 
question  for  statesmanship.  The  question  with  us  was  whether 
the  institution  would  not  actually  flourish  under  what  might  be 
termed  persecution.'' 

"  Do  you  know  to  what  extent  polygamous  cohabitation  is 
practiced  in  Utah  ? 

"  Oh,  I  have  honestly  tried  to  find  out.     I  do  not  know.'' 

"  Is  it  practised  out  of  Salt  Lake  City  ?  '' 

"  Oh,  unquestionably.  But  there  is  a  worse  thing  than  poly- 
gamy about  Mormonism.'' 

"  What  is  it?" 

"  It  is  the  un-American  domination  of  the  hierarchy,  requir- 
ing its  followers  to  accept  the  word  of  its  leaders  as  the  Word  of 
God,  interfering  in  politics  and  working  socially  to  attain  ends 
that  are  antagonistic  to  American  institutions.  It  is  a  secret 
organization  with  temple  rites.  You  ask  me  to  give  instances  of 
Church  interferences  in  politics.  They  are  hard  to  give.  We 
see  the  results,  but  do  not  always  know  how  they  are  brought 
about. 

Judge  Powers  was  asked  why  he  favored  Bringham  H.  Roberts 
for  Congress,  in  view  of  the  fact  that  Roberts  was  a  poly  gam  ist 
and  living  in  unlawful  cohabitation.  Powers  said  he  was  not 
aware  at  the  time  that  Roberts  was  violating  the  law,  though  he 
knew  he  was  a  polygamist.  It  was  a  choice  between  Roberts 
and  another  Mormon,  also  a  polygamist. 

Judge  Powers  told  of  the  candidacy  of  August  M.  Cannon 
and  one  of  his  wives  for  the  same  office,  in  1896.  Mrs.  Cannon 
ran  on  the  Democratic  ticket  and  her  husband  on  the  Republican 
ticket.  The  wife  defeated  the  husband,  in  spite  of  the  fact  that 
he  was  president  of  the  Salt  Lake  Stake  of  Zion.  It  was  the 
year  of  the  silver  craze,  said  Judge  Powers,  and  no  Republican 
could  have  been  elected,  '"not  even  the  President  of  the  Church." 


604  POLYGAMY;  OR,  THE  MYSTERIES 


UTAH    SHERIFF   TELLS    OF   THE    MATRIMONIAL   AFFAIRS   OF  JOHN 

W.    TAYLOR — PRESIDENT    SMITH   WRITES    HE    CANNOT 

INDUCE    MORMONS    TO    GO    TO    WASHINGTON. 

L.  E.  Abbott,  Sheriff  of  Davis  county,  Utah,  was  a  witness 
before  the  Senate  Committee  on  Elections  and  Privileges  in  the 
Smoot  investigation. 

He  declared  that  Apostle  John  W.  Taylor,  who,  it  is  reported,- 
has  five  wives,  added  the  last  two  to  the  list  by  marrying  domes- 
tics of  two  of  his  other  wives. 

Abbott  said  he  understood  these  marriages  took  place  about 
the  year  1902.  These  wives  are  Rhode  and  Roxey  Welling,  and 
the  witness  declared,  each  was  about  23  or  24  years  old.  One 
was  working  for  Nettie  Wooley  and  the  other  for  Nellie  Todd. 

Senator  Overman  wanted  to  know  if  their  ages  had  been  given 
correctly  at  about  24  years.  The  witness  said  he  believed 
that  to  be  about  their  ages. 

u  Then  they  must  have  been  married  since  the  manifesto 
of  1890,"  said  the  Senator. 

Attorney  Taylor  placed  in  the  record  a  letter  from  President 
Joseph  F.  Smith,  respecting  his  inability  to  have  Mormons  come 
to  Washington  to  testify  before  the  Committee.  President  Smith 
concludes : 

"  As.  this  is  a  political  matter,  and  not  a  religious  duty  devolv- 
ing upon  them  or  me,  I  am  powerless  to  exert  more  than  moral 
suasion  in  the  premises." 


